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BL  240  .S55  1916 

Simmons,  Daniel  A. 

The  science  of  religion 


The  Science  of  Religion 


The  Science  of  Religion 


Fundamental  Faiths  Expressed 
in  Modern  Terms 


By 

DANIEL  A. 'SIMMONS 

Judge  of  the  Circuit  Court,  Jacksonville,  Florida 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.   Revell    Company 
London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  191 6,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:       100    Princes    Street 


Preface 

THE  most  important  question  in  the  world 
is  propounded  in  the  book  of  Job,  which 
book  is  probably  the  oldest  piece  of  litera- 
ture now  known  to  mankind.  The  question  was 
doubtless  hoary  with  age  even  in  the  remote  days 
of  Job,  and  the  onward  march  of  evolution  and 
education  has  constantly  accentuated  it.  Here  it 
is  :  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again ? " 

If  it  be  a  fact  that  men  and  women  continue  to 
live  as  self-conscious  individuals  after  the  death  of 
the  physical  body,  that  one  fact  is  of  more  vital 
and  tremendous  importance  to  mankind  than  all  the 
other  facts  of  nature  taken  together.  It  is,  always 
has  been,  and  ever  must  be,  the  one  theme  in 
which  a  death-shadowed  race  is  more  keenly  inter- 
ested than  in  any  other.  If  interest  seems  some- 
times to  abate,  it  is  merely  because  men  and  women 
have  despaired  of  getting  a  satisfactory  answer. 
The  world-old  question  is  always  there,  looming  up 
like  a  mountain  range  on  the  mental  horizon, 
though  attention  is  sometimes  momentarily  de- 
tracted from  it. 

The  importance  of  the  question  raises  to  a  place 
of  immediate  and  vital  interest  any  dependable 
collection  of  established  facts  which  in  any  way 
tends  to  answer  it.     The  world  so  urgently  needs 

5 


6  Preface 

the  answer !  Human  history  is  a  record  of  the 
fluctuating  issues  of  life  and  death.  The  expecta- 
tion of  death  shapes  all  human  activities  and  re- 
tards all  human  achievement.  Doubt  as  to  whether 
or  not  physical  death  ends  individual  existence  af- 
fects every  intelligent  human  being  and  shadows 
the  lives  of  the  noblest  men  and  women. 

The  prospect  of  death  influences  individual  acts 
and  sits  as  an  unbidden  spectral  guest  in  the  coun- 
sels of  nations.  Death  confronts  us  wherever  we 
turn.  It  injects  its  virus  into  the  heart  of  the 
germinating  oak,  breathes  its  withering  breath 
upon  the  budding  flower,  and  sets  its  seal  upon  the 
new-born  child.  Its  sombre  shadow  falls  across 
life's  every  pleasing  prospect,  and  its  skeleton  hand 
adds  a  drop  of  gall  to  every  cup  of  pleasure.  It  is 
a  party  to  every  human  contract,  and  love's  joys 
and  privileges  are  held  subject  to  its  caprice.  The 
fear  of  it  springs  up  with  every  form  of  intelligent 
life,  and  remains  until  at  last  the  quivering  heart  is 
still.  Very  few  people  have  escaped  its  ravages. 
Nearly  all  have  stood  helplessly  by  and  seen  the 
last  breath  of  a  loved  one  gasped  away,  leaving  the 
dear  face  pallid  and  expressionless,  and  the  once 
winsome  e}^es  glazed  and  immobile. 

The  certainty  of  physical  death  lashes  all  intelli- 
gent life  into  restlessness.  It  forces  into  men's 
minds  an  ever-present  sense  of  the  fleeting  imper- 
manency  of  all  human  accomplishment.  It  dis- 
courages purposeful  living  by  bringing  into  every 
life  the  certain  prospect  of  reaching  the  end.     It 


Preface  7 

inflates  the  value  of  time,  excites  haste,  and  inspires 
a  feverish  and  fitful  struggle  for  immediate  attain- 
ment and  reward ;  entailing  the  bulk  of  the  evils 
that  afflict  the  human  race. 

These  unhappy  conditions  are  all  either  produced 
or  accentuated  by  the  uncertainty  which  obscures 
the  issues  of  physical  death.  If  men  and  women 
could  only  know,  or  even  rationally  believe,  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  death,  and  that  life  here 
and  hereafter  has  a  common  development  and  a 
common  purpose,  what  rapid  and  radical  changes 
would  be  wrought  in  human  lives  and  affairs  ! 

Human  Intuition  has  always  and  everywhere 
whispered  of  a  life  beyond  physical  death,  and  this 
whispering  is  the  master-tone  of  all  religious  beliefs. 
It  holds  religious  organizations  together;  builds 
churches,  mosques  and  temples  ;  stimulates  philan- 
thropy ;  inspires  morality ;  and  gives  men  and 
women  strength  to  meet  the  vicissitudes  of  life. 

Intuition  is  supported  and  encouraged  by  the 
teachings  of  religion.  But  the  teachings  of  relig- 
ion come  from  a  dead  past  and  a  vanished  civiliza- 
tion. Keligion  is  Oriental  in  its  spirit  and  methods 
of  treatment,  and  even  its  most  modern  Orientalism 
is  nearly  two  thousand  years  old.  Its  methods 
were  all-sufficing  to  the  Oriental  intelligence  in  the 
midst  of  which  it  had  its  birth,  and  if  the  numer- 
ous accounts  are  to  be  credited  these  methods  led 
many  men  and  women  to  actual  spiritual  knowledge 
and  illumination  whereby  they  received  personal 
and  conclusive  proof  of  the  existence  of  a  realm  of 


8  Preface 

super-physical  matter  and  of  the  continuity  of  life 
after  physical  death.  And,  again,  if  these  accounts 
are  true,  such  proof  was  obtained  through  com- 
pliance with  natural  laws  still  in  operation,  because 
natural  laws  are  changeless. 

The  truths  of  religion  are,  of  course,  unchang- 
ing, just  as  natural  laws  are  unchanging ;  but  the 
people  of  the  western  hemisphere  have  outgrown 
the  ancient  Oriental  manner  of  expression  and 
methods  of  treatment.  The  methods  of  thought 
and  reasoning  employed  by  western  progressive 
intelligence  in  this  age  is  almost  the  exact  opposite 
of  the  methods  of  thought  and  reasoning  employed 
by  eastern  intelligence  two  thousand  years  ago 
and  more.  And  modern  western  intelligence  de- 
mands methods  of  thought,  expression  and  reason- 
ing that  will  conform  to  itself  and  take  into  ac- 
count its  vastly  augmented  store  of  knowledge. 
Ancient  eastern  intelligence  was  idealistic,  and  de- 
manded idealistic  teaching.  Modern  western  intel- 
ligence is  practical  and  analytical,  and  demands 
practical  and  analytical  teaching  :  it  is  rational  and 
scientific,  and  must  be  met  with  rational  and  scien- 
tific explanations  of  the  phenomena  of  life  and 
death,  or  it  cannot  receive  the  teaching. 

When  Religion  announces  to  modern  western  in- 
telligence that  God  is  Love,  and  asserts  that  He 
created  the  heaven  and  the  earth  and  everything 
in  them,  it  propounds  an  unsolved  riddle  in  a  dead 
language.  Physical  Science  has  proved  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  vast  majority  of  our  educated  people 


Preface  9 

that  the  earth  has  tediously  evolved  from  a  mass  of 
white-hot  gases,  and  that  its  phenomena  are  gov- 
erned by  natural  laws  of  uniform  operation.  Mod- 
ern western  intelligence  therefore  demands  of 
Religion  that  it  shall  set  forth  and  explain  those 
principles,  elements,  laws  and  forces  which  will 
rationally  and  scientifically  prove  that  God  is  Love, 
and  show  how  such  a  God  might  move  upon  gase- 
ous incandescence  and  evolve  it  into  the  teeming 
world  of  life  and  intelligence  which  we  know  to- 
day. 

When  Religion  says,  in  this  day  and  to  this  gen- 
eration, "  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a 
spiritual  body,"  coupled  with  an  assertion  that  the 
spiritual  body  continues  to  live  after  the  death  of 
the  other ;  it  controverts  the  findings  of  an  arro- 
gant, all-conquering,  miracle-working  Physical 
Science  which  asserts  that  it  has  traced  physical 
matter  to  its  very  ultimate  without  finding  any 
place  for  soul  or  spirit,  and  clinches  the  argument 
with  the  axiom  that  two  bodies  cannot  occupy  the 
same  space  at  the  same  time.  The  progressive  in- 
telligence of  modern  Europe  and  North  America  is 
demanding  of  Religion  that  it  either  challenge  this 
finding  of  Physical  Science  by  propounding  those 
principles,  properties  and  potencies  of  matter  which 
will  at  least  show  that  such  dual  existence  is  possi- 
ble, or  else  withdraw  its  claims  and  leave  men  and 
women  free  to  work  out  their  own  destiny. 

In  response  to  these  rational  and  reasonable  de- 
mands Religion  produces  a  religious  literature  thou- 


l  o  Preface 

sands  of  years  old,  asserts  that  the  mysteries  of 
God  and  Immortality  are  past  all  human  under- 
standing, and  exhorts  to  faith.  This  response, 
however  honest,  sincere  and  commendable  it  may 
be,  does  not  meet  the  issue. 

The  net  result  of  all  this  conflict  and  uncertainty 
is  that,  as  a  rule,  the  best  intelligences  in  western 
civilization  are  either  not  in  the  churches,  or  else 
they  are  loosely  affiliated  with  them  as  a  matter  of 
form  and  convention ;  leaving  the  active  work  to 
be  carried  on  by  mentally  undersized  zealots  and 
ambitious  seekers  of  place  and  power.  This  may 
seem  blunt,  and  even  inconsiderate ;  but  its  truth 
will  be  attested  by  any  educated  minister  of  reason- 
ably wide  experience.  I  say  this  condition  prevails 
as  a  rule,  and  readily  and  gladly  admit  that  there 
are  many  notable  exceptions.  These  exceptions 
are  noble  and  refined  men  and  women  whose  intui- 
tion surmounts  the  difficulties  and  uncertainties 
that  have  been  briefly  set  forth. 

These  are  some  of  the  big  problems  with  which 
this  book  grapples,  and  the  aim  has  been  to  lay 
hold  of  them  at  their  gnarled  and  sturdy  roots. 
Its  chief  purpose  is  to  prove,  through  a  collection 
and  coordination  of  the  mass  of  pertinent  facts 
discovered  by  Physical  Science,  and  a  system  of 
reasoning  based  upon  those  facts,  that  the  real  dis- 
coveries of  Science  and  the  fundamental  teachings 
of  Religion  are  harmonious  and  mutually  supple- 
mental. In  order  to  intelligently  carry  out  this 
purpose  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  translate  the 


Preface  1 1 

technical  language  with  which  Physical  Science 
clothes  the  facts  discovered  by  it  into  the  every-day 
language  of  every-day  men  and  women,  so  that 
people  of  average  education  and  intelligence  might 
readily  understand  it. 

The  book  proclaims  and  describes  a  Universal  In- 
telligent Force  which  it  is  hoped  will  at  once  con- 
form to  the  scientist's  conception  of  Natural  Law, 
meet  the  religionist's  idea  of  God,  and  reveal  the 
First  Cause  which  the  evolutionist  has  been  unable 
to  discover.  It  attempts  to  show  the  utter  irrele- 
vancy of  the  scientific  axiom  that  two  bodies  can- 
not occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same  time,  and 
points  out  an  unexplored  realm  in  the  domain  of 
matter  where  may  lie  a  great  world  of  spiritual 
material  abounding  in  life  and  controlled  by  intelli- 
gence. Then  additional  evidence  is  brought  for- 
ward tending  to  prove  the  actual  existence  of  such 
a  world,  and  its  habitation  by  men,  women  and 
children  clothed  upon  with  the  spiritual  bodies  the 
existence  of  which  St.  Paul  asserts  as  a  fact. 

Other  and  collateral  subjects  are  treated,  as  will 
appear  bj-  reference  to  the  table  of  contents,  but 
they  all  bear  upon  the  two  chief  topics.  The  idea 
that  morality  is  an  exact  science,  and  that  one's 
acts  and  thoughts  mechanically  register  their  ef- 
fects upon  him,  will  be  new  to  many  readers.  To 
some  it  may  seem  preposterous ;  but  if  so,  then 
they  are  respectfully  asked  to  suspend  judgment 
until  they  have  read  the  entire  book  in  the  sequence 
in  which  it  is  written. 


1 2  Preface 

Any  effort  to  properly  accredit  the  material 
which  has  been  used  would  be  worse  than  useless, 
because  the  sources  are  too  many  and  too  often  un- 
known. It  seems  almost  needless  to  say  that  the 
author  is  not  entitled  to  credit  for  the  many  dis- 
coveries dealt  with ;  not  even  for  the  ideas  of  a 
Universal  God-Force  and  a  world  of  super-physical 
matter.  The  material  has  been  drawn  from  many 
sources  and  many  ages ;  so  that  this  book  is  but 
the  humble  channel  into  which  many  streams  of 
knowledge  converge,  and  from  which  it  is  hoped 
there  may  flow  out  a  composite  stream  of  thought 
running  away  to  the  Eiver  of  Life. 

Greetings  of  hearty  sympathy  and  fraternal  good 
will  to  the  great  men  and  women  of  science  who 
are  doing  so  much  to  alleviate  human  suffering, 
and  to  make  the  world  better  and  happier.  To  the 
noble  men  and  women  of  religion  who  are  so  un- 
selfishly giving  themselves  and  their  substance  in 
an  effort  to  point  out  the  way  which  leads  onward 
aud  upward  to  the  Light :  Greetings  of  faith  and 
hope  and  brotherly  love. 

D.  A.  S. 
Jacksonville,  Fla. 


Contents 


i. 

ii. 
in. 

IV. 

v. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge 

Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence 

Established  Facts 

Force 

Genesis     . 

Evolution 

The  Great  Plan 

The  Genesis  of  Animal  Life 

Wide  Open  Doors    . 

"  How  Can  These  Things  Be? 

Old  Gems  in  New  Settings 

God  . 

The  Eclipse 

Looking  Forward 


Spiritual    Matter, 
telligence    . 

Morality 

Sin  and  Redemption 

The  Divine  Purpose 


Life 


and 


In- 


15 

29 

36 
44 
53 
69 
75 
80 

9i 
96 
no 
117 
122 
135 

161 

184 
196 
211 


13 


Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.'* 


I 

THE  CRISIS  AND  THE  CHALLENGE 

FOR  many  years  it  has  been  generally  sup- 
posed that  Science  and  Eeligion  are  natural 
enemies  and  incapable  of  dwelling  together 
in  harmony.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  consensus 
of  opinion,  shared  by  the  votaries  of  both  Science 
and  Religion,  that  scientific  discovery  is  hostile  to 
religious  belief.  Science  has  insisted  upon  the  ac- 
curacy of  its  findings,  and  Religion  has  contended 
for  the  sacredness  of  its  beliefs. 

When  a  scientific  discovery  has  apparently  con- 
flicted with  a  religious  belief,  Religion  has  usually 
branded  the  announcement  of  the  discovery  as  a 
sacrilege,  and  Science  has  brushed  aside  the  belief 
as  a  superstition.  These  assertions  are  made  as  to 
Science  and  Religion  in  the  aggregate  sense,  and 
with  due  allowance  for  many  individual  exceptions 
on  both  sides. 

As  a  result  of  this  conflict  of  authorities,  there 
has  come  into  the  world  a  spiritual  unrest  which  is 
at  once  a  serious  problem  and  a  great  opportunity 
for  Religion. 

Science  has  made  its  strongest  appeal  to  the 
educated  and  highly  intelligent,  because  its  actual 
demonstrations  are  mathematically  exact,  and  its 

15 


16  The  Science  of  Religion 

deductions  are  based  upon  critical  analytical  reason 
ing ;  and  in  the  proportion  that  education  and  in 
telligence  have  increased,  in  just  the  same  pro 
portion  has  it  strengthened  its  hold  upon  publi< 
opinion.  Keligion,  on  the  other  hand,  has  depende( 
largely  upon  intuitions  which  have  been  conimoi 
to  all  peoples,  in  all  ages,  and  which  intuitions  i 
has  sought  to  sustain  and  strengthen  by  the  au 
thority  of  various  sacred  writings  passed  alon^ 
from  a  remote  past.  It  has  not  been  able  to  mak< 
any  demonstrations,  and  most  of  its  efforts  at  ana 
lytical  reasoning  have  been  failures.  Those  wh< 
have  demanded  a  "sign"  have  been  rebuked  an< 
turned  away  disappointed,  and  those  who  hav 
made  bold  to  ask,  "How  can  these  things  be?: 
have  been  told  that  it  is  all  a  great  mystery  beyon< 
the  power  of  the  human  mind  to  comprehend. 

PHYSICAL   SCIENCE 

In  treating  the  subject  in  hand,  the  term  "  Sci 
ence  "  is  intended  to  mean  Physical  Science,  becaus 
all  the  scientific  discoveries  which  will  hereafte 
be  taken  into  account  have  been  made  upon  th 
purely  physical  plane  of  life.  And  if  Physica 
Science  would  confine  its  deductions  and  speculg 
tions  to  its  own  legitimate  physical  plane,  upo 
which  it  operates  and  for  which  its  implements  ar 
fashioned,  it  might  be  left  to  run  its  course.  Bui 
while  all  of  its  discoveries  have  been  upon  th 
physical  plane,  while  its  implements  are  fashione 
for  use  only  upon  that  plane,  and  while  it  has  nc 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge  17 

yet  reached  the  ultimate  of  matter  there  existing, 
it  has  nevertheless  indulged  in  speculations  and 
propounded  dogmas  concerning  things  and  con- 
ditions which  lie  altogether  outside  of  and  beyond 
physical  things  and  conditions.  The  scientists 
have  never  seen  an  atom.  They  have  seen  the 
fiery  trail  of  helium  atoms  passing  through  a 
vacuum  under  pressure  of  a  high-tension  electric 
current,  but  the  atom  itself  they  have  never  seen. 
While  they  know  of  the  existence  of  atoms,  and 
are  acquainted  with  many  of  their  manifestations 
and  characteristics,  they  do  not  know  of  what  they 
are  composed  and  understand  but  very  little  about 
their  structure. 

But  Science  has  not  hesitated  to  assert,  upon 
occasion,  that  there  is  nothing  beyond  the  physical 
plane.  The  scientific  gentlemen  who  make  this 
assertion  in  such  grave  and  erudite  manner  may  be 
likened  unto  a  man  gazing  upon  a  dimly  seen 
mountain,  beyond  which  he  has  never  gone,  upon 
the  summit  of  which  he  has  never  stood,  and  sol- 
emnly asserting  that  the  mountain  top  is  the  very 
limit  of  the  universe.  Valleys  may  actually  lie 
beyond,  with  rills  and  rivers,  and  happy  homes  in 
which  there  are  music  and  laughter  and  love ;  but 
he  has  never  seen  them,  and  therefore  they  do  not 
exist :  at  the  limit  of  his  vision  the  earth  rises  up  to 
meet  the  bending  sky,  and  beyond  that  there  is 
nothing  else. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  thus  briefly  conclude  the 
whole  case  against  Science.     Before  any  final  judg- 


18  The  Science  of  Religion 

ment  can  be  justly  and  rationally  reached  we  must 
first  employ  a  delicate  and  difficult  process  of 
reasoning  and  coordination  of  facts.  It  is  intended 
merely  to  challenge  those  scientists  who  assert  that 
there  is  nothing  beyond  the  physical,  and  that  all 
life  and  action  and  intelligence  are  but  phenomena 
of  physical  matter. 

Science  has  been  able  to  exactly  demonstrate  the 
correctness  of  many  of  its  findings  of  physical  fact, 
and  to  elucidate  the  causes  lying  behind  many  of 
its  achievements.  It  has  been  able  to  give  "  signs" 
to  the  doubters,  and  its  "  miracles  "  have  delighted 
and  benefited  the  people  of  all  lands.  And  those 
who  see  these  signs  and  benefit  by  these  mira- 
cles are  not  generally  able  to  discriminate  between 
the  discoveries  and  deductions  of  Science  in  its 
legitimate  realm  and  its  dogmatic  speculations  con- 
cerning things  which  lie  outside  of  that  realm,  of 
which  latter  it  cannot  possibly  know  anything  at 
all.  It  is  just  here  that  Eeligion  faces  a  situation 
the  gravity  of  which  can  scarcely  be  overesti- 
mated. The  same  Science  which  can  converse 
through  the  open  air  across  an  ocean  and  a  conti- 
nent tells  our  educated  young  men  and  young 
women  that  everything  is  physical  matter ;  that 
life  and  force  and  intelligence  are  but  the  by- 
products of  this  physical  matter ;  and  that  individ- 
ual existence  ends  at  death.  Against  these  asser- 
tions Eeligion,  which  can  give  no  sign  and  perform 
no  miracle,  must  rest  its  case  upon  intuition  and 
exhort  to  faith.     The  men  and  women  who  are 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge  19 

now  about  to  assume  charge  of  the  world's  pro- 
gressive activities  are  in  danger  of  believing  that 
every  assertion  of  Science  is  true,  because  it  is  able 
to  prove  so  many  of  its  assertions. 

The  intuitions  of  our  young  men  and  young 
women  are  not  waning.  Quite  to  the  contrary, 
our  intuitions  keep  pace  with  the  onward  strides 
of  evolutionary  human  development,  and  we  are 
all  the  more  ready  to  accept  spiritual  teachings 
which  corroborate  them.  But  this  is  an  age  of 
analytical  reasoning,  and  we  are  prone,  though 
reluctantly,  to  examine  our  intuitions  in  the  cold 
light  furnished  by  Science ;  and  if  that  light  be 
blurred  and  stigmatic,  our  intuitions  may  appear  to 
be  merely  the  ghosts  of  dead  superstitions  and 
vanished  traditions. 

THE  CONFLICT 

Just  here  is  the  field  upon  which  Eeligion  must 
battle  for  its  very  life ;  and  be  it  known,  frankly 
and  in  all  calm  candour,  that  the  bayonets  of  the 
enemy  are  at  its  heart.  Here  is  the  foundation 
from  which  rises  the  superstructure  of  unrest, 
uncertainty,  lax  morals  and  world-weariness  which 
manifest  themselves  everywhere.  Here  is  the  soil 
in  which  is  rooted  the  bitter-apple-tree  of  Doubt, 
flowering  with  sensuality  and  greed  of  the  things 
of  to-day,  and  fructifying  with  personal  vice  and 
public  unrighteousness. 

What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it,  you  men 
who  have  been  specially  trained  for  the  service  of 


20  The  Science  of  Religion 

Religion?  Tou  men  of  Science  who  realize  that 
your  fellows  have  juggled  facts  and  dogmas  ;  what 
say  you  ?  And  you  sturdy  young  men  and 
young  women  whose  mothers  coached  your  infant 
lips  to  pray  and  soothed  your  childish  cares  with 
sacred  songs  of  faith  and  hope  and  love ;  where, 
seems  it  to  you,  lies  the  path  of  duty  ? 

THE  STRENGTH  OF  TRUTH 

We  are  prone  to  take  some  measure  of  assurance 
from  the  supposition  that  truth  must  prevail 
merely  because  it  is  truth,  and  to  rely  upon  our 
intuitions  and  religious  teachings  as  embodying  the 
truth.  But  we  cannot  ignore  the  fact  that  God 
works  in  the  affairs  of  men  through  human  agen- 
cies, and  that  Truth  is  no  stronger  in  battle  than 
the  arm  which  wields  its  sword.  Truth  never  has 
been,  and  never  can  be,  destroyed ;  but  great 
civilizations  have  crumbled  and  great  institutions 
have  failed  because  the  truths  upon  which  they 
were  founded  were  not  properly  defended  against 
their  enemies.  While  truth  cannot  be  destroyed, 
it  can  be  put  out  of  the  counsels  of  men,  institu- 
tions and  nations,  leaving  them  to  the  avenging 
sword  of  Retributive  Justice.  History  bears  elo- 
quent witness  to  all  of  these  things.  The  ancient 
civilizations  of  Egypt,  Babylon  and  Rome  were 
founded  upon  the  great  moral  principles  of  Equity, 
Justice  and  Right,  and  the  men  and  women  who 
gave  them  their  glory  and  power  recognized  and 
were  guided  by  the  great  precepts  which  have  been 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge  21 

fundamental  in  all  religious  systems  worthy  of 
note.  Their  decay  set  in  only  when  later  genera- 
tions departed  from  these  principles,  and  substituted 
materialistic  error  for  moral  truth.  Great  wealth 
engendered  selfishness  and  greed,  and  large  knowl- 
edge of  physical  things  obscured  the  spiritual 
vision.  Then  came  degeneracy,  devolution  and 
decay.  Keligion  is  now  confronted  with  the  task 
of  battling  against  these  same  tendencies  in  modern 
civilization.  It  cannot  destroy  true  scientific  dis- 
coveries ;  it  cannot  even  ignore  them.  Its  task  is 
rather  to  classify  and  coordinate  such  discoveries, 
making  them  a  part  of  its  larger  system.  The 
future  of  our  present  civilization  depends  upon  the 
manner  in  which  it  shall  perform  this  task.  If 
general  education  and  dissemination  of  knowledge 
means  an  ever  increasing  belief  that  there  is  noth- 
ing in  the  universe  but  physical  matter  and  its 
phenomena,  then  our  present  civilization,  like  its 
predecessors,  is  headed  for  destruction. 

THE  CHALLENGE 

The  gravity  of  the  situation  is  thus  freely  con- 
ceded. The  crisis  is  thus  frankly  admitted.  Never- 
theless, the  following  pages  are  to  be  a  challenge  to 
"  Materialism  "  in  all  its  forms.  It  is  proposed  to 
demonstrate  that  Science  has  not  made  a  single  dis- 
covery which  even  tends  to  refute  the  fundamental 
conceptions  of  Eeligion.  The  purpose  is  to  go  even, 
further,  and  demonstrate  that  many  scientific  dis- 
coveries strongly  corroborate  religious  beliefs  and 


22  The  Science  of  Religion 

intuitions.  In  these  attempted  demonstrations 
there  will  be  no  reliance  upon  any  sacred  writing 
or  religious  creed.  The  battle  will  be  offered  in  the 
enemy's  country,  and  the  weapons  will  be  those 
which  Science  itself  has  chosen.  Such  references 
as  shall  be  made  to  religious  teachings  and  sacred 
writings  will  be  made  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  that  scientific  discovery  corroborates  them, 
and  not  for  the  purpose  of  using  them  as  evidence. 

GLOSSARY 

And  since  we  are  about  to  invade  the  enemy's 
country,  it  is  necessary  that  we  know  a  little  some- 
thing about  the  language  spoken  there.  In  other 
words,  this  is  to  be  largely  a  controversy  with 
Science,  and  in  order  to  conduct  it  intelligently  and 
rationally  we  ought  to  know  the  meaning  of  a  few 
of  the  most  important  scientific  terms  that  must  be 
employed.  Therefore,  this  first  chapter  will  be  con- 
cluded with  a  brief  glossary  of  such  of  those  terms 
as  seem  pertinent. 

Electron.  The  smallest  particle  into  which  man 
has  been  able  to  divide  matter.  An  electron  is  gen- 
erally supposed  to  be  a  very  small  particle  of  elec- 
tricity, and  it  is  also  generally  supposed  that  a 
number  of  them  revolving  around  another  small 
particle  of  something  called  a  nucleus  compose  the 
next  larger  particle  of  matter  called  an  atom. 

All  forms  of  matter,  regardless  of  how  firm  and 
solid  they  may  seem,  are  built  up  of  these  very 
small  particles  called  atoms.    They  are  so  very 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge  23 

small  that  they  cannot  be  seen,  even  with  the  aid 
of  the  most  powerful  microscope. 

Molecule.  A  particle  of  matter  next  larger  than 
the  atom,  and  being  merely  a  grouping  of  two  or 
more  atoms.  Water  is  composed  of  molecules  built 
up  of  oxygen  atoms  and  hydrogen  atoms.  Sand 
and  the  various  kinds  of  flint  are  composed  of  mole- 
cules built  up  of  oxygen  atoms  and  silicon  atoms. 
And  so  it  is  with  all  material  substances  ;  they  are 
all  mere  aggregations  of  molecules  built  up  of  vari- 
ous kinds  of  atoms. 

Ion.  A  fractional  part  of  a  molecule.  In  chem- 
ical changes  and  modifications,  and  especially  in 
those  changes  and  modifications  that  are  aided  by 
electricity,  the  molecules  are  sometimes  broken  up 
into  smaller  groups  of  atoms  called  ions.  The  ions 
still  contain  two  or  more  atoms,  but  there  are  not 
enough  of  them  to  constitute  a  molecule. 

Crystals.  The  hard,  irregular  bodies  of  which 
the  entities  of  the  mineral  kingdom  are  built  up. 
Crystals  are  merely  large  groups  of  molecules  so 
arranged  as  to  manifest  straight  lines  and  abrupt 
angles.  All  of  the  solid  entities  of  the  mineral 
kingdom  are  built  up  of  crystals.  They  occur  in 
many  diiferent  forms  and  sizes.  Some  are  so  large 
that  we  can  see  them  and  handle  them,  and  some 
are  so  small  that  they  can  be  seen  only  by  the  use 
of  a  powerful  microscope. 

Cells.  The  small  plastic  entities  of  which  the 
vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  are  built  up.  Cells 
assume  many  different  shapes  under  different  con- 


24  The  Science  of  Religion 

ditions,  but  they  never  take  the  rough  irregular 
form  of  crystals.  While  they  are  in  process  of 
growth  and  multiplication  they  are  always  soft,  but 
they  often  become  hard  and  rigid  in  their  later 
stages,  as  in  the  bones  and  hoofs  of  animals,  in  hard 
wood,  and  so  forth.  Some  cells  can  be  seen  by  the 
unaided  eye,  but  the  great  majority  of  them  are  so 
small  that  they  can  only  be  seen  by  the  aid  of  a 
microscope.  Cells,  like  crystals,  are  composed  of 
molecules  which  in  turn  are  composed  of  atoms,  the 
difference  being  only  in  form. 

Ether.  A  substance  very  much  finer  than  air 
which  seems  to  be  everywhere,  and  which  passes 
freely  through  all  known  forms  of  matter.  The 
light  and  heat  which  come  to  us  from  the  sun  are 
merely  waves  in  the  ether,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
all  kinds  of  light  and  radiant  heat.  The  atmosphere 
ends  a  few  hundred  miles  above  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  but  the  ether  continues  for  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions of  miles  to  the  remotest  star,  and  beyond.  So 
far  as  we  are  able  to  judge,  its  presence  is  without 
limit.  There  is  also  a  drug  called  ether,  to  which 
reference  may  be  made  later,  and  with  which  the 
all-pervading  ether  should  not  be  confounded. 

Homogenous.  Perfectly  solid  and  without  par- 
ticles. All  known  forms  of  matter  are  composed  of 
particles,  but  the  ether  is  supposed  to  be  homoge- 
nous. 

Wave-Length.  The  length  of  any  particular 
wave  moving  through  a  medium.  If  a  stone  be 
dropped  into  a  placid  lake,  waves  wrill  move  away 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge  25 

in  all  directions,  and  will  have  definite  lengths.  If 
a  piece  of  metal  submerged  in  water  be  struck  with 
a  hammer,  waves  of  a  particular  length  will  radiate 
from  the  point  of  contact  in  all  directions,  and  if  a 
suitable  diaphragm  be  lowered  into  the  water  at  a 
distance  these  waves  will  impinge  upon  it  and  re- 
produce the  sound  of  the  stroke.  Likewise,  various 
sounds  proceed  through  the  air  in  various  wave- 
lengths, according  to  the  nature  of  the  sound.  If 
these  air-waves  move  in  regular  trains,  all  of  the 
same  length,  and  with  all  of  their  undulations  the 
same  distance  apart,  the  sound  will  have  tone.  But 
if  the  waves  go  forth  in  irregular  pulses,  the  sound 
will  be  merely  noise. 

Amplitude.  The  "height"  of  a  wave.  The 
middle  C  string  of  a  piano  always  gives  off  the 
same  lengths  of  waves  into  the  surrounding  air, 
regardless  of  whether  it  be  struck  gently  or  with 
considerable  force;  but  if  it  be  struck  with  con- 
siderable force,  the  amplitude  of  the  waves  will  be 
greater — that  is,  they  will  have  a  wider  range  of 
undulatory  motion — and  the  sound  will  be  louder. 
The  waves  in  the  ether  which  we  know  as  "  heat " 
are  likewise  always  of  the  same  length,  whether 
the  heat  be  merely  a  warm  glow  or  the  blast  of  a 
furnace.  Intense  heat  is  produced  by  greater  am- 
plitudes of  the  heat-waves.  Science  is  rather  in- 
clined to  the  opinion  that  the  heat  given  off  by 
very  hot  bodies,  such  as  our  sun,  contain  heat- 
waves which  are  shorter  than  the  waves  of  ordi- 
nary heat,  but  if  this  be  true,  it  means  merely  that 


26  The  Science  of  Religion 

there  are  forms  of  heat  with  which  we  are  not 
ordinarily  familiar. 

Polarity.  That  principle  of  magnetic  bodies 
which  causes  them  to  attract  or  repel  each  other. 
We  have  all  seen  horseshoe  magnets,  and  many  of 
us  have  seen  bar  magnets.  There  is  really  no  dif- 
ference between  these  two  kinds  of  magnets  except 
their  shape.  One  end  of  the  piece  of  metal  is  a 
"  positive  pole,"  and  the  other  end  is  a  "  negative 
pole,"  regardless  of  the  shape.  If  the  positive  pole 
of  one  magnet  be  brought  near  the  negative  pole 
of  another,  they  will  be  mutually  attracted ;  but  if 
similar  poles  of  two  magnets  be  brought  into  close 
proximity,  they  will  be  mutually  repelled.  It  will 
be  said,  in  subsequent  chapters,  that  certain  kinds 
of  bodies  are  of  "  opposite  polarity."  In  order  that 
our  scientific  friends  who  have  specialized  in  the 
realm  of  magnetism  and  electricity  may  not  lay 
the  book  aside  in  disgust  as  soon  as  they  see  this 
statement  concerning  "opposite  polarity,"  it  is 
necessary  to  explain  to  them  in  advance  just  what 
is  meant  by  it. 

Scientists  know,  of  course,  that,  literally  and 
technically  speaking,  two  entities  cannot  be  of  op- 
posite polarity ;  because  every  magnetic  body,  be 
it  large  or  small,  has  two  opposite  poles,  so  that 
the  polarity  of  every  magnetic  body  is  alike.  This 
is  not  disputed.  But  when  it  is  stated  of  two  kinds 
of  atoms,  for  instance,  that  they  are  of  opposite 
polarity,  the  statement  means  merely  that  one  of 
the  atoms  is  actively  and  aggressively  magnetic, 


The  Crisis  and  the  Challenge  27 

and  that  the  other  is  passively  magnetic.  "When 
the  actively  magnetic  atom  presents  one  of  its 
poles  to  the  atom  which  is  passively  magnetic,  the 
latter  also  becomes  actively  magnetic  by  induction 
in  such  a  way  that  it  presents  an  opposite  pole  and 
thereby  sets  up  a  mutual  attraction.  If  the  ac- 
tively magnetic  atom  presents  its  positive  pole  to 
an  atom  which  is  passively  magnetic,  the  passively 
magnetic  atom  at  once  becomes  actively  magnetic 
by  induction  and  presents  its  negative  pole  to  the 
positive  pole  of  the  other.  A  steel  magnet  is  a 
fair  example  of  active  magnetism,  and  a  bar  of  soft 
iron  is  a  fair  example  of  passive  magnetism. 

But  all  magnetic  substances  do  not  act  in  the 
manner  here  described.  If  a  piece  of  bismuth,  for 
instance,  be  brought  into  close  proximity  to  an 
actively  magnetic  substance,  such  as  a  magnet,  the 
bismuth  will  become  actively  magnetic  by  induc- 
tion, but  it  will  present  a  pole  similar  to  the  one 
presented  to  it,  thereby  resulting  in  repulsion  in- 
stead of  attraction.  There  are  many  other  mineral 
substances  which  act  in  the  same  way  as  the  bis- 
muth, and  they  are  said  to  be  "  diamagnetic." 
This  treatise  cannot  very  well  be  repeated  every 
time  it  becomes  necessary  to  refer  to  these  char- 
acteristics ;  but  whenever  it  shall  hereafter  be  said 
that  two  bodies  are  of  opposite  polarity,  that  state- 
ment will  be  intended  to  mean  that  one  is  actively 
magnetic,  and  that  the  other  is  passively  magnetic 
in  such  a  fashion  that  if  it  be  brought  into  prox- 
imity to  an  actively  magnetic  body  it  will  become 


28  The  Science  of  Religion 

actively  magnetic  by  induction,  and  will  present  a 
pole  opposite  to  the  one  presented  to  it,  thereby 
resulting  in  mutual  attraction.  And  whenever  it 
shall  be  said  that  two  bodies  are  of  similar  polar- 
ity, that  statement  will  mean  that  one  of  the 
bodies  is  actively  magnetic,  and  that  the  other  is 
diamagnetic. 

These  definitions  and  explanations  of  scientific 
terms  may  seem  to  the  reader  to  be  going  far  away 
from  a  consideration  of  religious  teachings.  But 
we  are  here  seeking  to  know  something  about  God 
and  Immortality,  and  the  search  will  be  futile 
unless  we  know  something  of  the  principles,  po- 
tencies, properties  and  powers  through  which  God 
is  expressed  and  upon  which  Immortality  is  based. 

If  the  reader  is  of  that  nondescript  type  of  in- 
telligence which  is  willing  to  have  some  one  else  do 
its  studying  and  thinking,  he  might  as  well  lay  this 
book  aside  here  and  now.  It  is  not  intended  for 
him.  It  is  addressed  to  those  red-blooded,  clear- 
thinking  men  and  women  who  are  anxious  to  know 
and  willing  to  learn  the  great  truths  upon  which 
religious  beliefs  rest.  Such  as  these  are  earnestly 
invited  to  proceed  with  the  author  through  a  con- 
sideration of  the  force  through  which  the  all- 
creative  God  expresses  Himself,  and  of  the  matter 
upon  which  that  force  acts. 


II 

MATTER,  LIFE  AND  INTELLIGENCE 

WHENEVER  a  scientist  undertakes  to 
demonstrate,  as  scientists  sometimes  do, 
that  the  phenomena  of  life  and  intelli- 
gence are  all  but  so  many  complex  properties 
of  physical  matter,  he  soon  brings  into  action  an 
array  of  established  and  assumed  facts  which  he 
himself  must  admit  baffles  the  profoundest  intelli- 
gence of  the  age.  He  makes  no  attempt  to  solve 
many  of  the  riddles,  and  much  of  the  material  at 
hand  is  left  in  a  state  of  bewildering  chaos.  Piec- 
ing together  such  data  as  he  thinks  he  can  under- 
stand, he  is  able  to  prove  conclusively  that  physical 
matter  is  not  soul  nor  spirit.  Having  followed 
physical  matter  into  the  realm  of  ultra-microscopy, 
and  having  discovered  that  in  its  last  estate  it  is 
composed  of  very  small  particles  which  he  calls 
"  atoms,"  he  concludes  that  it  and  its  phenomena 
have  a  monopoly  of  the  entire  field.  He  finds  that 
a  certain  combination  of  the  atoms  called  "  oxygen  " 
and  "hydrogen"  and  "carbon"  result  in  sugar; 
that  certain  other  combinations  of  the  same  atoms 
produce  starch ;  while  yet  other  combinations  of 
the  same  atoms  produce  fat,  alcohol  and  ether. 
Why  the  same  kinds  of  atoms  combine  in  these 
different   forms,   and   why,   having  so  combined, 

29 


30  The  Science  of  Religion 

they  produce  substances  possessing  such  widely 
differing  properties,  he  has  not  the  slightest  idea. 
He  finds  that  our  physical  bodies  are  composed 
of  a  few  very  common  substances,  and  that  so  long 
as  those  substances  are  replenished  by  food  we  live 
and  think.  He  concludes,  therefore,  that  the 
human  body  is  merely  a  machine  which  consumes 
food  as  raw  material  and  turns  out  motion  and  life 
and  hate  and  love.  Absurdly  simple,  isn't  it  ? 
Just  mix  together  a  little  carbon,  oxygen,  ni- 
trogen, hydrogen,  sulphur,  phosphorus  and  iron ; 
and,  presto !  you  obtain  life,  intelligence,  reason 
and  love.  Disturb  the  equilibrium  of  the  com- 
pound, and  all  these  magical  qualities  disappear, 
leaving  the  few  simple  ingredients  to  disintegrate. 
Injure  the  brain,  and  consciousness  is  flicked  out  as 
a  candle  in  a  gust  of  wind ;  and  when  conscious- 
ness returns  there  is  no  memory  of  what  transpired 
during  the  lapse.  Hence,  all  is  physical  matter, 
and  nothing  more :  else  why  should  not  the  soul 
or  spirit  remember  what  was  transpiring  while  its 
brain  was  out  of  order  ?  "  Answer  me  that,  if  you 
can ! "  he  challenges. 

And  yet  there  are  a  few  minor  things  which  are 
very  annoying  to  the  "  materialistic "  scientist. 
When  he  gets  down  to  the  atoms  of  which  all  phys- 
ical matter  is  composed,  he  finds  that  those  atoms 
are  constantly  vibrating  with  wonderful  rapidity, 
and  from  no  apparent  cause.  He  is  very  sure  that 
he  has  reached  the  end  of  all  matter,  and  that  there 
is  no  force  except  such  as  matter  generates ;  and  so 


Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence  31 

he  solemnly  contemplates  this  wonderful  vibratory 
motion  of  the  atoms  for  a  while,  and  then  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that  they  are  "  self-moved."  He  also 
finds  that  a  certain  mineral  salt  always  manifests  as 
a  crystal  having  six  sides,  while  another  salt  mani- 
fests as  a  crystal  having  eight  sides,  and  so  on 
through  the  whole  range  of  crystallization  ;  but  he 
can  discover  no  reason  for  this  variation,  nor  even 
for  crystallization  in  any  form.  Then,  too,  he  finds 
that  certain  groupings  of  chemical  substances  known 
as  "  seeds  "  have  a  habit  of  growing  into  plants  and 
trees  of  the  same  kind  as  those  on  which  they  grew, 
while  his  exact  chemical  duplicate  of  the  seed  re- 
fuses to  grow.  He  is  fully  convinced  that  all  the 
phenomena  of  germination  and  growth  are  but  prop- 
erties of  the  physical  matter  of  which  the  seed  is 
composed,  and  cannot  understand  why  the  cause 
produced  in  his  laboratory  should  not  produce  the 
same  effects  as  the  same  cause  produced  by  the 
plant. 

All  these  perplexities,  and  a  few  thousand  others, 
are  encountered  by  the  scientist  when  he  undertakes 
to  prove  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  universe  except 
physical  matter  and  its  properties.  He  can  demon- 
strate, as  has  already  been  conceded,  that  physical 
matter  is  not  spiritual  matter,  nor  soul,  nor  any- 
thing else  than  just  physical  matter.  If  that  is  first 
blood  in  the  combat,  place  the  score  to  his  credit. 
But  demonstrating  that  physical  matter  is  not  soul 
nor  spirit  falls  something  short  of  demonstrating 
that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  soul  or  spirit,  as  may 


32  The  Science  of  Religion 

more  fully  appear  when  we  delve  deeper  into  the 
subject. 

THE  OLD,  OLD  QUESTION 

The  vitality  of  this  discussion  lies  in  the  fact  that 
it  deals,  ultimately,  with  the  destiny  of  man  as  an 
individual  intelligence.  Eeligion  is  a  world-wide 
and  age-old  characteristic  of  humanity,  and  belief 
in  individual  existence  after  death  is  the  master-tone 
of  all  religious  teachings.  The  book  of  Job  is  the 
oldest  in  the  Bible,  and  probably  one  of  the  oldest 
literary  productions  in  the  world ;  and  from  that 
remote  past  comes  the  troubled  query  :  "  If  a  man 
die,  shall  he  live  again  ?  "  This  same  question,  in 
different  forms,  has  been  anxiously  repeated  again 
and  again  as  the  ages  have  rolled  away,  and  is  still 
the  most  vitally  interesting  question  in  the  world. 
All  forms  of  religion  propound  the  doctrine  of  some 
kind  of  existence  beyond  the  event  of  physical 
death,  and  they  all  address  themselves  very  largely 
to  the  problem  of  teaching  men  and  women  how  to 
so  regulate  their  conduct  while  in  the  physical  body 
that  their  future  existence  may  be  a  happy  one. 
The  desire  for  life  and  happiness  is  the  predominant 
desire  of  humanity,  and  the  fact  that  Eeligion 
promises  these  things  in  greater  abundance  is  the 
secret  of  its  wide-spread  prevalence. 

The  uncertainty  of  life,  and  doubt  as  to  the  issues 
of  death,  are  responsible  for  the  major  portion  of 
earth's  wrongs  and  suffering.  Consciousness  of  the 
constant  approach  of  death,  accompanied  by  doubt 


Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence  33 

and  uncertainty  as  to  what,  if  anything,  lies  beyond 
it,  enhances  the  apparent  value  of  time  and  tempts 
us  to  gather  the  most  of  pleasure  and  profit  from 
the  present,  thus  fostering  feverish  haste,  worry, 
greed,  and  lack  of  consideration  for  the  rights  and 
prerogatives  of  others.  The  sombre  shadow  of 
Death  falls  athwart  life's  every  pleasing  prospect, 
and  its  skeleton  hand  adds  a  drop  of  gall  to  every 
cup  of  pleasure.  All  this  would  be  wonderfully  and 
gloriously  changed  if  we  could  only  know  that 
physical  death  is  merely  the  beginning  of  a  larger 
life,  in  which  life  our  happiness  and  well-being  will 
depend  upon  our  conduct  while  in  the  physical 
body. 

If  Science  can  reach  and  lay  bare  the  very  ulti- 
mates  of  all  matter,  force  and  intelligence,  then 
Eeligion  will  be  either  scientifically  corroborated  or 
scientifically  destroyed.  If  it  can  be  shown  that 
life  and  force  and  intelligence  are  but  phenomena 
of  physical  matter,  then  Eeligion  must  be  aban- 
doned, and  codes  of  human  ethics  ought  to  be 
materially  revised.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  shall 
be  found,  when  the  ultimate  of  physical  matter  has 
been  reached,  that  it  is  acted  upon  by  some  extra- 
neous force,  intelligently  applied,  then  Eeligion  will 
still  be  pardonable,  and  may  be  justified  upon  other 
grounds  than  that  it  is  supported  by  intuition,  faith 
and  sacred  writings.  To  endeavour  to  show  by  a 
review  and  correlation  of  facts,  and  by  deductions 
based  upon  the  facts,  that  this  latter  is  true,  is  a 
part  of  the  task  here  in  hand. 


34  The  Science  of  Religion 

THINGS  WE  DO  NOT  KNOW 

But  let  us  agree,  before  attempting  to  proceed 
further,  that  there  are  some  things  which  we  do  not 
know.  In  order  that  dispute  may  be  reduced  to  the 
minimum,  the  list  will  be  short  and  simple.  "We  do 
not  know  when  nor  how  matter  came  into  existence. 
We  do  not  know  when  nor  how  force  first  began  to 
act  upon  matter.  We  do  not  know  when  nor 
whence  intelligence  came  into  the  universe  and  set 
its  parts  in  order.  But  we  do  know  that  matter, 
force  and  intelligence  are  facts  of  nature,  and  since 
we  do  not  know  their  respective  beginnings,  we 
must  commence  our  consideration  by  accepting 
them  as  facts. 

For  many  years  after  Dalton  discovered  that  all 
physical  matter  is  composed  of  very  small  particles 
called  "  atoms,"  it  was  supposed  that  these  atoms 
are  little  round  hard  things  like  marbles,  which  are 
perfectly  homogenous,  or  solid,  and  which  cannot 
be  broken.  This  theory  never  did  make  a  very 
strong  appeal  to  reason,  because  men  were  inclined 
to  believe  that  little  round  hard  things  like  mar- 
bles, however  small,  might  be  smashed  into  smaller 
pieces. 

This  theory  of  the  absolute  homogeneity  and 
indivisibility  of  the  atom  has  now  been  generally 
discarded.  There  is  fair  scientific  evidence  that 
the  atom  is,  in  fact,  a  very  complex  little  thing 
composed  of  a  central  nucleus  and  many  revolving 
electrons,  the  arrangement  of  central  nucleus  and 
rotating  electrons  forming  a  combination  very  simi- 


Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence  35 

lar  to  a  solar  system  with  its  sun  and  revolving 
planets.  There  has  even  been  speculation  as  to 
whether  or  not  the  known  positive  and  negative 
magnetic  qualities  of  the  atoms  may  depend  upon 
the  relative  direction  in  which  the  electrons  revolve 
around  the  nucleus,  as  the  direction  of  the  electric 
current  in  the  winding  of  an  electro-magnet  deter- 
mines the  positive  and  negative  poles  of  its  iron 
core. 

Whether  the  nucleus  and  electrons  of  the  atom 
are  matter,  as  we  generally  understand  that  term, 
is  a  question  concerning  which  there  are  different 
and  conflicting  theories.  Some  scientists  incline  to 
the  opinion  that  these  nucleii  and  electrons  are 
but  small  eddying  currents  of  force,  thereby  not 
only  explaining  matter,  but  explaining  it  away. 
Others  have  suggested  that  atoms  are  but  small 
whirlpools  in  the  ether  which  fills  all  space  and 
pervades  all  substances.  Still  others  incline  to  the 
belief  that  electricity  is  itself  a  very  subtle  fluid, 
the  positive  and  negative  particles  of  which  group 
together  to  form  the  atom ;  whence  comes  the 
electrical  theory  of  matter  of  which  we  have  heard 
much  in  recent  years. 

Those  scientists  who  are  committed  to  the  theory 
that  the  atom  is  complex  in  its  structure  (and 
among  them  are  some  men  of  international  reputa- 
tion) are  strongly  inclined  to  the  opinion  that,  like 
everything  else  in  nature,  it  is  subject  to  the  re- 
fining processes  of  the  general  evolutionary  scheme. 


m 

ESTABLISHED  FACTS 

FEOM  what  has  already  been  said  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  problem  of  the  structural 
composition  of  the  atom  is  an  unsolved 
problem.  But  Science  has  learned  many  practical 
things  about  atoms  which  lie  far  short  of  their 
structural  composition.  Among  other  things,  it 
knows  that  some  atoms  are  magnetically  positive, 
and  others  negative ;  that  some  are  comparatively 
heavy,  and  others  comparatively  light;  that  they 
continuously  vibrate  with  varying  rapidity,  their 
vibratory  rates  being  determined,  under  a  given 
condition,  by  their  weights ;  and  that  positive  and 
negative  atoms  having  harmonious  vibratory  rates 
combine  to  form  the  various  elements  and  com- 
pounds which  we  know  as  physical  matter. 

We  are  here  considering  things  which  lie  in  the 
realm  of  the  infinitely  small.  We  have  reasoned 
upon  the  ultimate  structure  of  the  atom,  briefly  refer- 
ring to  one  widely  entertained  theory  that  it  is  com- 
plex ;  and  yet  the  smallest  particle  which  could  be 
broken  from  the  point  of  the  finest  cambric  needle 
would  contain  many  thousands  of  atoms.  When 
one  makes  this  comparison  with  the  ordinary  con- 
ceptions of  size  and  weight,  it  is  quite  a  mental 
feat  to  conceive  of  one  of  these  atoms  as  being 

36 


Established  Facts  37 

itself  composed  of  other  particles,  "  each  separated 
from  all  others  by  distances  comparatively  as  great 
as  the  distances  which  separate  the  planets  in  a 
solar  system  "  ;  this  latter  being  one  of  the  possibil- 
ities proposed  by  those  scientists  who  hold  that  the 
atom  is  complex.  The  accomplishment  of  this 
mental  feat  is  not  necessary  in  the  present  consid- 
eration, but  an  effort  in  that  direction  may  be  of 
some  help  in  becoming  accustomed  to  the  realm 
which  we  are  here  trying  to  briefly  explore. 

COMPRESSIBILITY 

Whatever  may  be  our  conception  of  the  size  and 
characteristics  of  the  ultimate  particles  composing 
matter,  Science  holds,  and  we  are  bound  to  admit, 
that  those  particles  are  not  in  contact  with  each 
other.  All  physical  matter  is  compressible ;  that 
is,  any  physical  object  can  be  made  smaller  by 
pressure.  This  would  not  be  so  if  the  ultimate 
particles  were  in  contact  with  each  other.  It  was 
long  supposed  that  liquids  were  not  compressible, 
but  it  is  now  well  known  that  they  are.  Water, 
for  instance,  when  subjected  to  a  pressure  of  fifteen 
pounds  to  the  square  inch,  loses  only  five  one  hun- 
dred thousandths  of  its  volume ;  but  if  the  pressure 
be  increased  to  fifteen  thousand  pounds  to  the 
square  inch,  it  loses  one-twentieth  of  its  volume. 
That  water  literally  "  has  holes  in  it  "  is  positively 
proved  by  the  fact  that  a  small  quantity  of  pure 
alcohol  may  be  added  to  it  without  increasing  its 
volume.     That  this  compound  of  water  and  alcohol 


38  The  Science  of  Religion 

still  "  has  holes  in  it  "  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  a 
small  quantity  of  ether  may  still  be  added  to  it 
without  increasing  its  volume.  In  other  words,  a 
glass  filled  with  water  to  the  limit  of  its  capacity 
does  not  overflow  by  reason  of  the  addition  of  al- 
cohol and  ether  in  limited  quantities. 

"  But,"  says  some  one,  "  these  facts  may  not  be 
conclusive  proof  that  the  ultimate  particles  of  mat- 
ter are  not  in  contact;  for  it  may  be  that  those 
ultimate  particles  are  resilient  little  bodies,  like 
small  rubber  balls,  in  which  case  their  aggregate 
volume  would  be  reducible  under  pressure  even 
though  they  were  in  actual  contact,  just  as  a  cubic 
foot  of  rubber  balls  might  be  made  smaller  by 
pressure." 

This  point  is  well  worth  considering,  because  we 
cannot  afford  to  ignore  any  possible  factor  which 
might  impair  the  soundness  of  the  deductions  to  be 
made  in  later  chapters.  It  is  admitted  that  if  the 
molecules  of  water  are  resilient  bodies  which  may 
be  forced  out  of  their  usual  form  by  pressure,  re- 
gaining that  form  when  the  pressure  is  removed, 
this  fact  would  account  for  its  compressibility. 
And  it  is  conceivable  that  those  molecules,  being 
composed  of  separate  atoms,  are  in  fact  resilient. 
But,  even  admitting  that  molecules  of  water  may 
be  resilient,  how  shall  we  explain  the  strange  blend- 
ing of  alcohol  and  either  with  water  without  in- 
creasing its  volume  ?  One  who  is  not  acquainted 
with  the  facts  might  suggest  that  the  molecules  of 
alcohol  and  ether  may  be  smaller  than  the  mole- 


Established  Facts  39 

cules  of  water,  and  that  they  may  slip  through  as 
shot  might  slip  through  a  measure  of  marbles.  But 
are  they  smaller  ?    Let  us  see. 

A  molecule  of  water  is  composed  of  a  certain 
number  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  atoms,  and  a  mole- 
cule of  alcohol  or  ether  is  composed  of  a  larger 
number  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  atoms,  with  some 
carbon  atoms  added.  Therefore,  when  the  alcohol 
and  ether  sink  down  into  the  water,  larger  mole- 
cules slip  between  smaller  ones  without  increasing 
the  aggregate  volume,  which  proves  that  even  in 
water,  one  of  the  least  compressible  of  all  sub- 
stances, the  distances  which  separate  the  molecules 
are  much  greater  than  their  individual  diameters — 
how  much  greater  no  one  knows.  If  it  be  sug- 
gested that  the  atoms  composing  the  molecules 
may  interblend,  so  that  a  molecule  of  water  and  a 
molecule  of  alcohol  can  each  occupy  the  same  space 
at  the  same  time,  then  that  would  prove  that  the 
atoms  in  the  molecule  are  themselves  separated  by 
distances  greater  than  their  diameters,  and  we  are 
merely  going  a  little  farther  afield  in  order  to  ac- 
complish the  same  result.  The  important  fact  is 
that,  turn  where  we  may,  when  our  last  argument 
is  exhausted  we  are  forced  back  to  the  fact  that  all 
physical  matter  is  composed  of  very  small  particles 
each  separated  from  all  others  by  distances  com- 
paratively great,  these  distances  apparently  varying 
in  different  substances. 

What  is  true  of  water  is  also  true  of  all  other 
substances,  be  they  gases,  liquids  or  solids.     Gases 


4-0  The  Science  of  Religion 

are  highly  compressible,  it  being  possible,  by  the 
use  of  an  ordinary  bicycle  pump,  to  force  several 
cubic  inches  of  air  into  one  cubic  inch  of  space. 

When  we  look  upon  a  piece  of  granite,  or  a  blade 
of  polished  steel,  it  is  difficult  to  realize  that  it  is, 
in  its  last  analysis,  composed  of  very  small  particles 
which  are  not  in  contact  with  each  other.  But 
such  is  undoubtedly  the  case.  Those  small  particles 
hold  their  respective  positions  by  reason  of  the  at- 
tractions and  counter-attractions  of  positive  and 
negative  magnetic  poles  and  the  affinities  of  har- 
monic vibratory  rates.  If  the  atoms  are  of  a  highly 
magnetic  class,  and  if  there  is  almost  perfect  har- 
mony between  their  respective  vibratory  rates,  the 
resulting  substance  will  be  a  very  hard  solid.  In 
such  case  the  particles  strongly  resist  any  force 
which  tends  to  displace  them.  If  the  attractions 
of  the  particles  for  each  other  are  too  weak  to  form 
a  rigid  solid,  or  if  the  harmony  between  their 
vibratory  rates  is  imperfect,  they  form  various  less 
rigid  substances,  ranging  from  elastic  and  malleable 
solids  to  liquids  and  gases. 

Although  Science  fully  agrees  with  the  findings 
here  made  as  to  the  compressibility  of  matter,  we 
cannot  afford  to  leave  this  great  truth  until  we 
have  grasped  its  full  significance,  and  at  the  risk 
of  seeming  tedious  it  will  be  again  stated.  All 
physical  matter  is  composed  of  very  small  particles 
which  are  not  in  contact  with  each  other,  and  in 
most  cases,  if  not  in  all,  the  distances  between  them 
are  greater  than  their  individual  diameters  ;  all  of 


Established  Facts  41 

which  particles  are  continually  vibrating  at  almost 
inconceivable  rates  of  speed,  these  rates  being  de- 
termined by  their  weights  and  probably  influenced 
by  the  tension  exerted  upon  them  by  the  magnetic 
pull  of  other  atoms  around  them. 

A  full  mental  grasp  of  this  great  fact  is  indispen- 
sable to  a  rational  understanding  of  much  which 
will  follow  in  later  chapters.  As  already  pointed 
out,  we  are  here  considering  things  in  the  realm  of 
the  infinitely  small,  and  unless  one  is  accustomed 
to  think  in  the  terms  of  that  realm,  he  may  not  be 
able  to  grasp  the  full  significance  of  those  open 
spaces  between  the  ultimate  particles  of  physical 
matter.  Possibly  the  point  may  be  more  easily 
conceivable  if  we  can  raise  it  to  a  realm  in  which 
the  entities  are  not  so  small.  If  we  could  use  a 
magnifying-glass  which  would  so  magnify  the 
small  particles  of  matter  that  they  would  seem  to 
be  as  large  as  buckshot,  and  if  we  could  look 
through  such  a  glass  at  a  small  piece  of  stone,  such 
as  might  be  used  for  a  paper-weight,  we  would  see 
a  towering  boulder  larger  than  the  Great  Pyramid 
of  Egypt.  But  instead  of  appearing  to  be  a  solid, 
rigid  mass,  it  would  be  a  seething  swarm  of  small 
round  particles,  each  separated  from  all  others  by 
distances  greater  than  their  individual  diameters, 
and  all  vibrating  at  such  enormous  rates  of  speed 
that  the  great  bulk  would  manifest  to  our  sense  of 
sight  as  a  kind  of  hazy  mist.  This  transition  from 
the  realm  of  the  ultra-microscopical  to  a  realm  with 
the  sizes  and  distances  of  which  we  are  acquainted 


42  The  Science  of  Religion 

is  a  rather  long  step,  but  it  serves  to  bring  the  sub- 
ject within  the  range  of  comprehension  without 
changing  the  actual  conditions. 

Considered  in  this  latter  aspect,  the  truth  is  not 
so  difficult  of  comprehension.  In  fact,  all  true 
scientific  discoveries  are  comprehensible  to  average 
human  intelligence  when  aptly  explained.  It  is 
only  when  we  attempt  to  go  beyond  the  actually 
discovered  facts  and  grope  after  ultimates  that  we 
are  baffled  and  confounded.  It  may  be  that  man 
shall  some  time  reach  and  know  the  very  ultimate 
of  matter.  If  so,  it  may  be  that  he  shall  find  that 
ultimate  to  be  a  homogenous  mass  of  ether  from 
which  all  things  else  are  precipitated,  and  through 
which  they  move  without  friction ;  or  it  may  be  he 
shall  find  that  what  appears  to  be  solid  matter  is, 
in  its  last  estate,  nothing  but  an  interplay  of  forces. 
The  one  of  these  possibilities  is  about  as  inconceiv- 
able to  present  human  intelligence  as  the  other. 
So  far  as  we  know,  either  or  neither  may  be  true. 
But  we  can  intelligently  pursue  the  subject  as  far 
as  the  atom  of  physical  matter,  as  already  set 
forth,  and  that  is  entirely  sufficient  for  the  present 
purpose.  Only  let  it  be  understood  that  Science 
has  just  barely  reached  the  atom  of  physical  matter, 
and  knows  nothing  of  what,  if  anything,  lies  be- 
yond it.  When  it  undertakes  to  say  that  there  is 
nothing  above  and  beyond  the  plane  or  realm  of 
physical  matter,  it  is  talking  about  something  of 
which  it  is  utterly  without  knowledge. 

It  may  seem  that  too  much  time  and  space  have 


Established  Facts  43 

been  devoted  to  this  undisputed  fact  that  the  fine 
particles  of  physical  matter  are  separated  by  com- 
paratively great  distances ;  but  the  importance  of 
it  will  more  fully  appear  when  it  is  stated  that 
those  same  distances  are  the  open  doors  through 
which  Keligion  may  escape  from  the  wall  of  facts 
with  which  Science  has  endeavoured  to  impound  it. 
We  are  here  merely  recruiting  the  facts,  the  mar- 
shalling of  them  being  necessarily  deferred  until 
the  recruiting  process  has  been  completed. 


H 


IV 

FORCE 

AVING  briefly  reviewed  human  knowl- 
edge of  the  ultimate  of  matter,  consid- 
ered apart  from  the  phenomena  arising 
through  the  operation  of  force,  we  will  now  con- 
sider our  knowledge  of  force  itself.  There  is  but 
little  to  consider,  because  we  know  but  little. 

All  our  knowledge  of  this  ultimate  may  be 
summed  up  by  saying  that  there  is  in  nature  a 
mobilizing,  vitalizing,  animating  principle  which 
we  call  force.  This  principle  is  co -existent  with 
matter,  in  either  an  active  or  a  passive  form,  but  it 
is  not  always  dependent  upon  what  we  usually  call 
matter  for  its  transmission.  Light  is  one  manifes- 
tation of  force,  and  it  passes  freely  through  the 
most  perfect  vacuum — a  fact  of  which  we  have  a 
complete  demonstration  in  the  ordinary  incandes- 
cent light  bulb.  Light  and  heat  are  examples  of 
the  active  state  of  force,  and  cohesion  in  the  stone 
and  molecular  strain  in  the  steel  spring  and  the 
storage  battery  furnish  examples  of  latent  or  pas- 
sive force. 

In  many  instances  we  can  sense  the  force  itself, 
as  well  as  its  effects  upon  matter  ;  for  one  instance, 
we  can  feel  heat,  and  we  can  also  see  its  effects 
upon  matter.     In  many  other  instances  we  are  not 

U 


Force  45 

sensible  of  the  force  itself,  but  are  sensible  of  its 
effects  upon  matter ;  for  one  instance  here,  none 
of  our  senses  can  detect  magnetism,  and  yet  it  runs 
our  machinery,  propels  our  street-cars,  and  exerts 
its  power  in  thousands  of  other  ways  equally  open 
to  observation.  And  who  will  be  bold  enough  to 
say  that  there  may  not  be  other  forces  which  are 
not  only  themselves  beyond  the  limits  of  our  con- 
sciousness, but  the  effects  of  which  also  lie  beyond 
the  range  of  our  ability  to  perceive  ?  In  this  dawn- 
ing age  of  wireless  communication  every  animate 
and  inanimate  thing  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  is 
almost  constantly  bombarded  by  the  electro-mag- 
netic waves  crackling  forth  from  the  thousands  of 
wireless  stations,  and  those  waves  are  constantly 
working  changes  in  many  of  the  objects  upon  which 
they  impinge  ;  but  unless  one  be  equipped  with 
the  proper  mechanical  apparatus  he  is  insensible 
alike  of  the  waves  and  of  their  accompanying 
phenomena. 

THE  AWKWARD  POSITION  OF  SCIENCE 

Science  has  experienced  even  more  difficulties  in 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  force  than  it  has  en- 
countered in  the  realm  of  matter.  It  long  since 
conceived  the  idea  that  force  is  only  a  phenomenon 
or  property  of  physical  matter,  to  which  idea  it  is 
still  wedded  "  for  better  or  for  worse."  Its  fidelity 
to  this  idea  has  led  it  into  some  rather  awkward 
places,  and  has  made  it  say  some  rather  remark- 
able things.     Having  traced  matter  back  to  its 


46  The  Science  of  Religion 

vibrating  atoms,  it  says :  "  In  the  world  of  molec- 
ular physics  the  molecules  and  atoms  and  electrons 
are  self-moved,  and  are  in  perpetual  motion."  Self- 
moved  ?  So  far  as  our  physical  senses  advise  us, 
yes.  In  a  world  teeming  with  force  in  a  thousand 
different  forms,  sensed  and  unsensed,  and  in  which 
nothing  else  moves  except  through  the  application 
of  force,  electrons  and  atoms  and  molecules  bob- 
bing up  and  down  of  their  own  accord  ! 

If  a  man  knowing  nothing  of  wireless  telegraphy 
should  observe  the  coherer  of  a  wireless  receiving 
instrument  in  operation,  he  would  see  the  iron  or 
nickel  filings  alternately  cohere  and  fall  apart. 
Upon  examination  he  would  find  nothing  but  a  wire 
extending  from  one  end  of  the  little  glass  tube  con- 
taining the  filings  into  the  air,  and  another  wire 
extending  from  the  other  end  into  the  earth.  No 
mechanism,  no  magnets,  no  batteries.  Just  plain 
metal  filings,  "  self -moved  "  !  Self-moved  ?  So  far 
as  our  physical  senses  advise  us,  yes.  In  a  world 
teeming  with  force  in  a  thousand  different  forms, 
sensed  and  unsensed,  and  in  which  nothing  else 
moves  except  through  the  application  of  force,  metal 
filings  bobbing  up  and  down  of  their  own  accord ! 
But  in  this  instance  Science  happens  to  know  that 
the  filings  are  moved  by  a  force  playing  upon 
them,  so  that  the  "  self -moved  "  theory  need  not  be 
employed. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  vibration  of  atoms  is  not 
produced  by  extraneous  force,  it  seems  passing 
strange  that   their   vibratory  rates  should  be  so 


Force  47 

easily  influenced  by  forces  with  which  we  are  fa- 
miliar. At  freezing  temperature  the  molecular  and 
atomic  vibratory  rates  of  water  are  so  modified 
that  it  assumes  the  form  of  a  solid  ;  at  212°  F.  its 
molecules  widely  separate;  and  if  we  raise  the 
temperature  high  enough  the  vibratory  harmony 
between  the  atoms  of  the  molecules  will  be  des- 
troyed, thus  resolving  the  water  into  its  constituent 
gases,  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  If  we  subject  air  to 
great  pressure  at  low  temperature,  its  atomic  vi- 
bratory rates  will  be  so  modified  that  it  will  become 
a  liquid.  These  two  common  materials,  air  and 
water,  are  bland  and  harmless  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions, but  if  we  subject  a  mixture  of  them  to  the 
intense  vibratory  heat  of  an  electric  arc,  their  vi- 
bratory rates  will  be  so  disturbed  that  they  will 
rearrange  themselves  into  groups  forming  molecules 
of  nitric  acid,  a  powerful  chemical  which  breaks 
down  all  organic  matter  and  many  metals.  These 
facts  do  not  fit  in  very  well  with  the  theory  that 
atoms  vibrate  independently  of  force ;  but  Science 
has  not  yet  admitted  the  possibility  of  force  not 
generated  by  physical  matter,  and  is  therefore  com- 
pelled to  the  conclusion  that  the  atoms  are  self- 
moved. 

THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  PROBLEM 

This  scientific  dictum  that  the  ultimate  particles 
of  matter  are  self-moved  may  not  at  first  thought 
seem  to  be  of  any  great  importance ;  but  it  is  really 
the  parting  of  the  ways  for  Science  and  Religion  as 


48  The  Science  of  Religion 

they  exist  to-day.  True  Science  and  true  Eeligion 
are  one  and  the  same  thing.  No  scientific  truth  can 
conflict  with  any  religious  truth,  for  the  very  ade- 
quate reason  that  no  one  truth  can  ever  conflict  with 
another  truth.  But  the  Science  of  to-day  maintains 
that  the  phenomena  of  force,  life  and  intelligence 
are  but  so  many  properties  of  physical  matter ;  that 
when  the  ultimate  of  physical  matter  is  reached  the 
outposts  of  the  universe  are  attained,  and  that  the 
particles  of  matter  there  existing  are  self-moved. 
The  Religion  of  to-day,  on  the  other  hand,  maintains 
broadly,  without  scientific  methods  of  treatment, 
and  with  no  rational  nomenclature,  that  the  phys- 
ical realm  is  vitalized  by  force  not  inherent  in 
physical  matter,  and  that  at  the  outposts  of  that 
realm  begins  a  realm  of  finer  matter  which  is  in- 
tangible to  our  consciousness  because  of  the  com- 
parative coarseness  of  our  physical  organs  of  sense, 
in  which  latter  realm  man  continues  to  exist  as  an 
individual  intelligence  after  the  event  of  physical 
death.  The  lines  are  tightly  drawn.  The  issue  is 
squarely  presented.  Science  holds  that  physical 
matter  is  omnipotent  and  self -moved,  and  that  there 
is  nothing  beyond  the  horizon  of  the  physical  world ; 
while  Religion  contends  that  physical  matter  is 
impotent  except  as  an  instrument  of  expression  for 
extra-physical  force,  and  that  at  the  horizon  of  the 
physical  world  stand  the  portals  of  another  and  finer 
world.  For  a  long  time  Intuition  was  allied  with 
Religion,  and  Reason  was  allied  with  Science  ;  but 
since  we  are  learning  more  about  the  subtle  forces 


Force  49 

of  nature  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  Intuition  allied 
with  Science,  and  Keason  fighting  the  battles  of 
Keligion.  Many  eminent  scientists  have  refused 
to  respect  the  barriers  which  their  fellows  have 
raised  against  them,  and  many  progressive  religion- 
ists have  discarded  as  "  non-essentials  "  some  of  the 
purely  dogmatic  tenets  which  have  been  passed 
along  from  an  unlettered  and  unscientific  age,  and 
which  are  not  supported  by  either  Intuition  or 
Keason. 

During  the  past  fifty  years  Science  and  Keligion 
have  fought  many  battles  on  these  disputed  fields  of 
matter  and  force,  and  as  a  result  of  those  battles 
there  has  come  into  existence  the  beginnings  of  a 
scientific  conception  and  interpretation  of  Keligion 
which  is  the  basic  theme  of  this  book.  In  other 
words,  there  has  been  an  occasional  effort  to  blend  to- 
gether and  harmonize  some  postulate  of  Science  and 
some  cardinal  teaching  of  Keligion,  and  the  system 
of  reasoning  and  deduction  thus  employed  has  some- 
times been  termed  "  Scientific  Faith."  Mr.  Henry 
Drummond  was  an  ambitious  pioneer  in  this  field, 
his  most  notable  effort  being  "  The  Ascent  of  Man," 
a  book  which  attempted  to  modify  "  The  Descent 
of  Man,"  Charles  Darwin's  great  book  on  Evolu- 
tion. But  Mr.  Drummond  was  not  always  able  to 
distinguish  between  Mr.  Darwin's  real  discoveries 
and  his  speculations  and  deductions.  He  accepted 
as  true  some  of  those  speculations  and  deductions 
which  afterwards  turned  out  to  be  false,  and  in 
trying  to  fit  them  into  a  religious  system  he  made 


^o  The  Science  of  Religion 

many  serious  and  sometimes  ludicrous  blunders, 
which  detracted  from  his  otherwise  great  work  and 
posted  a  caveat  against  other  religionists  who  might 
otherwise  have  been  tempted  to  follow  his  lead. 
Latterly,  however,  the  issue  has  been  raised  in  the 
ranks  of  Science  itself,  and  there  have  been  several 
notable  efforts  of  scientists  to  show  that  Religion  and 
Science  hold  much  in  common.  But  such  scientists 
are  in  the  hopeless  minority,  and  their  efforts  have 
generally  been  labelled  by  the  majority  as  "  curious 
mixtures  of  scientific  fact  and  theological  moon- 
shine." 

The  battle  still  centers,  as  it  has  centered  from 
the  beginning,  around  the  question  as  to  whether 
or  not  force  is  merely  a  property  of  physical  mat- 
ter. If  Science  should  ever  admit  the  existence 
of  force  acting  upon  physical  matter  from  without, 
its  inner  fortress  would  be  breached,  and  the  hosts 
of  Religion  would  pour  through  unopposed.  For, 
once  admit  the  existence  of  extra-physical  force, 
and  the  possibility  of  super-physical  matter  looms 
large  in  the  foreground. 

If  Religion  will  but  take  advantage  of  the  pres- 
ent opportunity ;  if  it  will  but  join  with  those  sci- 
entists who  are  willing  to  assist  it  in  coordinating 
scientific  discoveries  and  religious  beliefs,  and  in 
the  formulation  of  a  rational  nomenclature  for  the 
expression  of  the  results  thus  obtained ;  it  will 
probably  win  the  battle.  Reason  and  human  ex- 
perience and  observation  seem  to  dictate  that  the 
present  manifestation  of  physical  matter,    under 


Force  5 1 

whatever  combination  of  circumstances  it  may- 
have  come  into  existence,  must  have  come  through 
the  agency  and  operation  of  some  preexistent 
force ;  because  all  things  in  the  universe  the  gene- 
ses  of  which  we  can  understand  are  thus  effectuated. 
So  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  comprehend  the 
great  plan  of  things,  it  is  founded  upon  a  university 
of  law,  and  not  a  diversity ;  and  the  theory  that 
sticks  and  stones  and  things  move  only  when  acted 
upon  by  force,  while  electrons  and  atoms  and 
molecules  are  self-actuated,  is  inconsistent  with 
the  idea  of  a  university  of  law.  For  atoms  and 
molecules,  like  stones,  are  ponderable  things  having 
weight  and  volume,  and  probably,  like  stones, 
move  only  under  the  impulse  of  force.  If  it  be 
asked :  "  Whence  the  force  ?  "  we  but  come  again 
to  the  ultimate  and  unknown. 

And  when  at  last  the  battle  is  won,  if  it  so  be 
that  Eeligion  shall  win  it,  Science  and  Religion 
will  coalesce  and  go  forth  to  explore  new  realms, 
discover  new  truths,  and  solve  world-old  enigmas. 
One  enigma  which  is  pressing  for  solution,  and 
which  some  great  pioneers  in  scientific  faith  be- 
lieve to  be  near  a  solution,  is  the  old,  old  question 
of  the  continuance  of  individual  existence  after 
death.  Spiritualism,  long  overvalued,  often  honey- 
combed with  fraud,  and  subject  to  an  infinitely 
varied  assortment  of  uncertainties,  mistakes  and 
inaccuracies,  has  been  taken  in  hand  by  Science 
and  is  contributing  some  interesting  data.  Spiri- 
tualism has  not  yet  furnished  any  conclusive  proof 


$2  The  Science  of  Religion 

of  individual  existence  after  death,  but  Science,  in 
order  to  prove  that  it  has  not  done  so,  has  been 
compelled  to  admit  some  very  wonderful  things; 
one  of  those  admissions  being  that  a  human  mind 
can  instantly  transmit  its  thoughts  to  another 
human  mind  in  a  remote  part  of  the  world,  with- 
out employing  any  tangible  means  of  communica- 
tion. Mediumship  has  been  condemned  from  the 
earliest  ages,  and  is  undoubtedly  immoral  and  de- 
structive in  its  effects  ;  but  there  is  now  a  tendency 
towards  independent  development  along  psychical 
lines,  as  contradistinguished  from  the  subjective 
and  dependent  methods  of  mediumship,  in  the  hope 
and  with  the  expectation  that  the  results  thus  ob- 
tained will  be  more  satisfactory  and  conclusive. 
In  other  words,  the  effort  is  to  employ  the  methods 
of  Elisha,  instead  of  those  of  the  medium  whom 
Saul  visited  at  Endor.  Just  what  progress  has 
been  made  along  this  new  line  the  general  public 
has  not  been  advised,  but  there  have  been  some 
intimations  which  are  calculated  to  arouse  interest, 
to  say  the  least  of  it. 

Nothing  contained  in  this  chapter  should  be  con- 
strued as  an  assertion  that  force  may  exist  inde- 
pendent of  all  matter.  It  may  so  exist,  but  we 
have  no  knowledge  upon  this  point.  All  that  is 
here  intended  is  to  point  out  that  what  we  know 
as  physical  matter  is  controlled  by  force  moving 
through  a  finer  medium. 


GENESIS 

JUST  what  form  the  new  Science-Keligion  will 
take,  in  case  the  tendency  towards  coalition 
should  bear  fruit,  is  a  subject  very  inviting  to 
speculation ;  and  the  absorbing  interest  of '  the 
theme  ought  to  be  sufficient  excuse  for  an  effort  to 
formulate  some  forethought  as  to  just  what  trend 
it  may  take,  and  to  discover  in  advance,  if  possible, 
some  of  the  high  landmarks  along  the  probable 
way  of  its  investigations  and  deductions.  Hence- 
forward this  book  will  be  devoted  to  such  effort. 
The  aim  will  be  to  show  that  the  real  discoveries 
of  Science  and  the  cardinal  beliefs  of  Keligion  are 
harmonious  and  mutually  supplemental;  and  if 
this  can  be  done,  then  the  way  will  be  cleared  for 
coalition  and  cooperation. 

At  present,  Science  begins  its  creed  thus :  "  In 
the  beginning  matter  .  .  ."  while  Religion  be- 
gins :  "  In  the  beginning  God.  .  .  ."  As  has  al- 
ready been  indicated,  Science  will  be  compelled,  if 
the  present  advantage  is  followed  up,  to  substitute 
something  else  for  that  word  "matter."  What  that 
substitute  shall  be  is  of  no  consequence,  but  it  must 
be  a  term  which  will  mean  a  universal,  intelligent 
force.  Since  the  name  is  of  no  importance,  and  in 
order  that  we  may  rationally  discuss  the  subject, 

53 


54  The  Science  of  Religion 

we  will  arbitrarily  substitute  the  word  "  force " 
for  the  word  " matter"  in  the  beginning  of  the 
creed  of  Science.  Only  that  one  small  change  will 
we  make — only  that  one  stinted  concession  to 
Keligion.  To  this  slightly  revised  creed  we  will 
add  the  present  knowledge  and  logical  deductions 
of  Science,  and  then  use  the  resulting  formula 
in  grouping  the  material  for  a  new  cosmic  concep- 
tion. With  this  slightly  revised  creed  before  us, 
we  will  now  proceed  to  add  the  pertinent  findings 
and  logical  deductions  of  Science,  one  by  one,  and 
thus  endeavour  to  forecast  the  postulates,  deduc- 
tions and  philosophies  of  the  new  Science -Keligion 
which  may  occupy  and  fructify  the  realm  in  which 
the  old  Science  and  the  old  Keligion  have  been  but 
crude  pioneers.  To  many  good  people  this  may 
seem  to  foretell  an  effort  to  tear  down  the  old  land- 
marks and  force  them  away  from  things  which 
have  been  held  sacred  for  generations.  Let  such 
good  people  be  reassured.  There  will  be  no  effort 
to  destroy  the  Old  Time  Keligion,  nor  to  blast  the 
Kock  of  Ages.  On  the  other  hand,  the  aim  will  be 
to  find  a  reason  for  the  Old  Time  Keligion,  and  to 
relieve  the  Kock  of  Ages  of  its  overburden  of 
doubt  and  dogma. 

GASEOUS  INCANDESCENCE 

It  is  undisputed  and  indisputable  that  this  earth, 

by  whatever  combination  of  circumstances  it  may 

have  come  into  existence,  was  once  hot  to  the  point 

of  gaseous  incandescence.     Clearly,  no  form  of  life 


Genesis  $$ 

now  known  to  us  could  have  existed  under  those 
conditions,  and  its  remoteness  from  other  worlds 
precludes  the  possibility  that  such  life  might  have 
been  transmitted  across  interplanetary  space. 

COMPLEX  VIBRATORY  FORCE 

A  complex  vibratory  force,  apparently  universal  in 
scope,  and  manifesting  as  waves  in  the  all-pervading 
ether,  played  upon  the  super-heated  mass,  tending  to 
cause  all  atoms  of  the  same  weight  to  vibrate  syn- 
chronously— that  is,  at  the  same  speed.  This  com- 
plex vibratory  force  may  be  likened  unto  the  atmos- 
pheric condition  which  would  result  from  the 
simultaneous  striking  of  all  the  "  c  "  strings  of  a 
piano,  the  longer  waves  tending  to  mobilize  the 
heavier  atoms,  and  the  shorter  waves  tending  to 
mobilize  the  lighter  ones.  It  is  just  possible  that 
this  all-pervading  force  is  as  complex  in  its  wave- 
lengths as  would  be  the  waves  in  the  atmosphere  of 
a  room  upon  the  simultaneous  striking  of  all  the 
strings  of  a  piano  the  tones  of  which  will  harmonize ; 
but  that  would  not  affect  the  principle,  and  for  the 
sake  of  simplicity  and  clarity  it  will  be  assumed  that 
each  shorter  wave  is  just  half  as  long  as  the  next 
longer  one,  which  would  be  the  atmospheric  condi- 
tion produced  by  striking  all  the  "  c  "  strings  of  a 
piano.  This  at  once  accounts  for  the  vibration  of 
the  atoms  and  for  the  fact  that  some  of  them  vibrate 
more  rapidly  than  others.  But  the  long  and  volumi- 
nous heat  waves  pulsating  through  the  gaseous 
mass  produced  a  discord  which  made  vibratory  har- 


56  The  Science  of  Religion 

mony  between  any  two  atoms  impossible,  so  that 
there  could  be  no  chemical  compounds — no  solid 
earth,  no  water.  It  is  curiously  interesting  and 
puzzling  to  note  that  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Gene- 
sis says  that  in  this  stage  of  creation  "  the  earth  was 
without  form,  and  void." 

The  proposing  of  this  hypothesis  of  an  all-pervad- 
ing force  again  invokes  the  danger  that  some  of  our 
scientific  friends  may  pronounce  the  terrible  judg- 
ment that  this  book  is  unscientific.  Some  of  them 
may  say  that  no  ethereal  wave-force,  however  com- 
plex, could  penetrate  to  the  center  of  the  earth  and 
move  the  atoms  there — that  such  waves  would  be 
refracted,  diffracted  and  absorbed  far  short  of  such 
great  penetration.  And  yet  such  scientists  might 
be  willing  to  admit  the  possibility  that  an  atom  at 
the  center  of  the  earth  is  itself  nothing  but  a  whorl 
of  force  in  the  ether.  They  would  be  bound  to  admit 
that  certain  substances  are  transparent  to  certain 
wave-lengths  of  force — that  is,  certain  substances, 
such  as  air,  water  and  glass,  permit  the  complex 
ethereal  wave-force  which  we  call  "  light  "  to  pass 
through  them  with  practically  no  interference.  If 
the  atmosphere  could  be  cleansed  of  all  water- 
vapour,  smoke  and  dust  particles,  sunlight  could  pass 
through  a  stratum  of  it  piled  up  almost  to  infinity. 
The  same  thing  might  also  be  said  of  water,  if  it  could 
be  cleansed  of  its  impurities.  Air  contains  a  large 
percentage  of  oxygen,  and  oxygen  enters  into  the 
composition  of  water  in  the  proportion  of  nearly 
ninety  percentum,     Glass  is  largely  composed  of 


Genesis  57 

silicon  and  oxygen,  and  so  is  the  solid  earth.  Sili- 
con combines  with  fluorine  to  form  a  perfectly 
transparent  gas.  We  observe,  therefore,  that  the 
elements  of  which  the  solid  earth  is  built  up  are,  in 
certain  states  and  conditions,  perfectly  transparent 
to  certain  ethereal  wave-lengths — that  is,  they 
permit  those  wave-lengths  to  pass  through  them 
with  practically  no  interference.  It  follows  with 
irresistible  logic  that  in  certain  other  states  and  con- 
ditions those  same  elements  would  permit  certain 
other  etheral  wave-lengths  to  also  pass  through 
them  with  practically  no  interference. 

MAGNETISM 

While  we  do  not  know  very  much  about  magnet- 
ism, we  do  know  that  it  is  a  form  of  force  which 
exerts  itself  through  the  most  perfect  vacuum,  thus 
demonstrating  that  it  moves  through  a  substance  not 
usually  classed  as  matter.  All  known  substances 
are  perfectly  transparent  to  the  waves  of  magnetism, 
which  fact  stands  stubbornly  between  man's  ingenu- 
ity and  the  achievement  of  "  perpetual  motion."  If 
some  substance  could  be  found  which  would  absorb 
(stop)  the  radiating  waves  of  magnetism,  a  powerful 
battery  of  permanent  magnets  could  be  so  arranged 
that  they  would  draw  a  soft  iron  armature  nearly  to 
their  poles,  whereupon  a  sheet  of  the  absorbent  sub- 
stance would  be  so  moved  by  the  motion  thus  pro- 
duced that  it  would  drop  between  the  magnets  and 
the  armature,  thus  stopping  the  attraction.  Then, 
if  another  battery  of  permanent  magnets  should  be 


58  The  Science  of  Religion 

set  up  opposite  to  the  first  battery,  with  another 
soft  iron  armature  in  front  of  them,  and  with  an- 
other sheet  of  the  absorbent  substance  so  placed  that 
it  would  rise  as  the  other  sheet  dropped,  and  if  these 
two  soft  iron  armatures  should  be  connected  by  a 
piston ;  the  whole  would  constitute  a  magnetic  en- 
gine which  would  run  until  its  parts  were  worn  out, 
with  no  consumption  of  fuel  and  no  abatement  of 
its  energy.  But  the  substance  which  will  thus  in- 
terfere with  the  radiating  waves  of  magnetism  re- 
fuses to  be  discovered.  If  a  substance  could  be 
found  which  would  even  slightly  interfere  with  the 
magnetic  waves,  a  delicate  engine  could  be  con- 
structed which  would  go,  even  though  it  could  not 
be  made  to  produce  power  in  commercial  quantities. 

X-EAYS   AND    RADIUM 

We  find,  therefore,  that  one  known  form  of  radi- 
ating waves  can  pass  through  all  substances  with- 
out interference.  Since  the  discovery  of  X-rays 
and  radium  we  have  learned  that  certain  other 
wave-lengths  can  pass  through  substances  which 
were  once  supposed  to  be  "  opaque "  to  all  wave- 
lengths. 

We  have  already  learned  many  strange  and  in- 
tricate things  about  radiating  ethereal  wave-lengths, 
although  our  knowledge  in  that  interesting  realm 
is  still  in  its  early  infancy.  As  to  the  waves  which 
we  have  actually  detected,  there  are  many  collateral 
and  subsidiary  things  which  we  do  not  know,  and 
we  must  admit  in  all  humility  that  there  may  be 


Genesis 


59 


very  many  other  waves  which  we  have  never  de- 
tected at  all ;  all  of  which  will  be  frankly  conceded 
by  any  scientist  who  is  not  afflicted  with  blinding 
egotism. 

It  is  hoped  that  this  brief  review  of  some  of  the 
known  facts  concerning  ether-waves  may  induce 
our  swift-judging  scientific  friends  to  suspend  final 
sentence  for  yet  a  little  while. 

Heat-waves  seem  to  be  discordant  to  all  the  other 
waves  which  impel  atoms  to  vibrate  ;  because  heat 
disturbs  the  atomic  activity  of  all  known  forms  of 
physical  matter.  If  the  amplitudes  of  the  heat- 
waves are  low,  the  atomic  disturbance  produced  by 
their  resulting  discord  manifests  itself  to  our  senses 
merely  as  "warmth";  but  if  the  amplitudes  be 
high,  the  resulting  discord  manifests  itself  to  our 
senses  as  "  heat,"  and  causes  various  compound  sub- 
stances to  break  up  into  their  component  atoms  and 
rearrange  themselves. 

nature's  formula  for  evolution 
As  the  fiery  globe  gradually  lost  its  heat  through 
radiation,  the  light  and  high-floating  hydrogen 
cooled  sufficiently  to  permit  some  of  its  atoms  to 
reach  a  harmonic  vibratory  rate  with  some  of  the 
underlying  atoms  of  oxygen,  thus  effecting  earth's 
first  marriages — polygamous  unions  between  one 
positive  oxygen  atom  and  two  negative  hydrogen 
atoms.  Incidentally,  the  first  compound  entities 
(molecules  of  water)  thus  came  into  being,  and 
nature's  formula  for  evolution  was  ex- 


60  The  Science  of  Religion 

pounded.  Two  kinds  of  atoms  had  responded  to 
shorter  waves  of  vibratory  force  than  any  to  which 
they  had  theretofore  responded,  and  as  a  result  of 
this  response  they  combined  into  a  new  form  of 
matter  having  an  appearance  and  qualities  entirely 
different  from  anything  which  had  theretofore  ex- 
isted in  the  environs  of  the  earth.  Gaseous  incan- 
descence thus  took  the  first  step  towards  conditions 
that  are  known  to  us  to-day. 

The  molecules  of  water  formed  by  the  union  of 
the  oxygen  and  hydrogen  sank  into  the  fiery  globe 
beneath,  there  to  be  again  disrupted  by  the  intense 
heat  and  their  component  atoms  sent  forth  upon 
another  round  of  the  cycle.  And  thus  the  tedious 
round  continued  age  after  age,  nature's  complex 
vibratory  force  establishing  harmonic  vibratory 
rates  between  various  kinds  of  atoms,  and  uniting 
positive  and  negative  atoms  into  compound  entities ; 
these  entities  sinking  down  into  the  more  intense 
heat  to  be  disrupted,  and  their  atoms  rising  again 
to  be  reformed,  until  the  entities  of  the  mineral 
world  were  at  last  permanently  established  and  the 
solid  earth  appeared. 

Even  the  solid  earth  was  very  hot  for  a  long 
time,  so  that  no  water  could  collect  upon  its  sur- 
face, and  all  the  water  now  in  our  streams  and 
oceans,  and  all  that  percolates  through  the  earth, 
hung  about  it  in  dense  clouds  of  steam  and  vapour. 
These  clouds  poured  down  great  torrents  of  rain 
upon  the  heated  earth,  and  the  steam  into  which 
this  rain  was  converted  helped  to  dissipate  the  heat 


Genesis  6l 

more  rapidly.  The  planet  Jupiter  is  still  in  just 
that  stage  of  evolution,  so  that  when  we  look  at  it 
through  a  telescope  we  see  nothing  but  its  dense 
envelope  of  clouds  and  vapour. 

At  last  a  thin  crust  on  the  surface  of  the  earth 
cooled  to  a  temperature  below  the  boiling  point, 
and  water  began  to  gather  upon  it.  Having  solidi- 
fied from  a  molten  mass,  the  world  was  a  smooth 
globe,  its  interior  not  having  yet  cooled  and 
shrunken  sufficiently  to  cause  its  surface  to  crumple 
into  mountains  and  valleys  and  continents  and 
ocean-beds.  Hence,  there  was  no  dry  land.  Again 
we  are  compelled  to  note  the  strikingly  curious 
fact  that  the  writer  of  the  book  of  Genesis  describes 
this  stage  of  creation  by  saying  :  "  And  God  said, 
Let  the  waters  under  the  heaven  be  gathered  to- 
gether in  one  place,  and  let  the  dry  land  appear : 
and  it  was  so." 

If  the  atom  is  indeed  complex  in  its  structural 
composition,  and  itself  subject  to  evolutionary 
change  and  refinement,  as  many  scientists  now  be- 
lieve, then  this  constant  grinding,  heating  and  cool- 
ing, integration  and  disintegration,  disruption  and 
re-formation,  continued  through  such  inconceivable 
reaches  of  time,  must  have  resulted  in  a  marked  re- 
finement of  all  atoms  and  their  consequent  response 
to  higher  vibratory  rates  playing  upon  them. 

HARMONICS 

A  brief  analysis  of  this  subject  of  vibratory 
harmonics  will  help  us  the  better  to  understand  the 


62  The  Science  of  Religion 

great  principle  here  immediately  under  considera- 
tion. If  two  pianos  be  tuned  to  the  same  pitch, 
and  then  placed  on  opposite  sides  of  the  same  room, 
they  may  be  used  to  fully  and  completely  demon- 
strate the  selective  character  of  vibrations  in  their 
action  upon  matter  in  the  medium  through  which 
they  are  moving.  Of  course,  the  medium  of  trans- 
mission will  be  air,  instead  of  ether,  and  the  piano 
strings  are  infinitely  coarser  and  heavier  than 
atoms,  but  the  principle  is  the  same. 

Now,  having  placed  the  pianos  and  opened  them, 
stand  near  one  of  them  and  have  some  one  else 
strike  a  key — say  middle  C — on  the  other.  The 
middle  C  string  of  the  piano  by  which  you  stand 
will  immediately  respond  by  giving  out  the  same 
sound,  and  all  the  other  strings  will  remain  mute. 
The  key  of  middle  C  is  arbitrarily  chosen ;  the 
result  will  be  the  same  whatever  key  may  be  em- 
ployed— that  is,  the  corresponding  string  on  the 
unused  piano  will  respond,  and  all  others  will  re- 
main silent.  This  means  merely  that  the  string 
which  is  struck  is  thereby  set  to  vibrating  at  a 
certain  rate  determined  by  its  weight  and  tension, 
and  that  these  vibrations  send  out  air- waves  of  a 
certain  length  into  the  surrounding  atmosphere. 
These  waves  strike  all  the  strings  of  the  other 
piano,  but  they  start  only  one  of  them  to  vibrating, 
and  that  is  the  string  the  weight  and  tension  of 
which  are  such  that  it  will  respond  to  a  wave  of 
the  particular  length  sent  into  the  air  by  the  string 
which  has  been  struck.     There  will   be  a  feeble 


Genesis  63 

response  by  all  the  "c"  strings  above  the  one 
which  has  been  struck,  owing  to  shorter  waves 
transmitted  by  "  secondary  vibrations  "  of  one-half 
of  it,  one-fourth  of  it,  etc.,  but  it  is  here  merely 
intended  to  illustrate  the  principle  involved,  and 
not  to  go  into  all  the  technical  mathematics  of  its 
collateral  phases.  It  sometimes  happens  that  a 
church  window  is  of  such  weight  and  size  that  it 
will  make  vibratory  response  to  one  of  the  deep 
notes  of  the  pipe-organ,  and  in  many  instances  the 
glass  has  been  thus  shattered,  or  jarred  from  its 
frame.  Other  windows  in  the  same  church  are  not 
affected  at  all. 

Applying  these  principles  to  the  subject  here 
under  consideration,  we  can  understand  that  a 
certain  ethereal  wave-length  of  the  complex  vibra- 
tory force  which  we  have  thrust  into  the  creed  of 
Science  would  cause  a  hydrogen  atom  to  vibrate, 
while  another  longer  wave-length  would  in  like 
manner  affect  a  heavier  oxygen  atom ;  and  so  on 
through  the  whole  list  of  atoms. 

There  seems  to  be  practically  no  limit  to  the 
capacity  of  a  medium,  such  as  air  or  ether,  to  carry 
different  wave-lengths  at  the  same  time,  provided 
each  shorter  wave  is  just  half  as  long  as  the  next 
longer  one.  So  long  as  these  respective  ratios  are 
maintained,  there  are  shorter  waves  in  longer  ones, 
and  ripples  in  the  shorter  waves,  and  shorter 
ripples  in  the  longer  ones,  and  so  on ;  no  one  wave 
interfering  with  any  other.  In  Music  we  call  this 
a  "  harmonic."     In  Physics  and  Chemistry,  when 


64  The  Science  of  Religion 

we  speak  of  "  harmonic  vibratory  rates  "  between 
two  atoms,  reference  is  had  to  the  same  principle, 
but  here  its  application  is  a  little  more  complex, 
and  we  mean  that  the  number  of  vibrations  of  one 
of  the  atoms  during  a  given  time  is  such  that  if 
expressed  in  figures  it  may  be  equally  divided  by 
some  number  greater  than  1  which  will  also  equally 
divide  the  number  of  vibrations  of  the  other  atom 
during  the  same  time.  If  the  vibratory  rate  of  one 
atom  is  such  that  it  may  be  represented  by  3,  it 
sustains  a  harmonic  relation  to  any  other  atom  the 
vibratory  rate  of  which  may  be  represented  by 
6,  9,  12,  etc.,  and  does  not  sustain  a  harmonic 
relation  to  atoms  having  vibratory  rates  which 
may  be  represented  by  4,  5,  7,  etc.  If  two  atoms 
have  harmonic  vibratory  rates,  and  if  they  happen 
also  to  be  of  opposite  polarity,  they  will  combine 
into  molecules  of  matter.  Groupings  of  two  kinds 
of  such  atoms  form  the  various  simple  compound 
substances,  such  as  water  (composed  of  oxygen 
atoms  and  hydrogen  atoms),  and  sand  (composed  of 
oxygen  atoms  and  silicon  atoms).  Atoms  not 
having  natural  harmonic  vibratory  rates  are  often 
found  in  complex  compounds  containing  three  or 
more  different  kinds  of  atoms,  but  in  such  com- 
pounds the  two  slightly  discordant  atoms  are  "  tied 
together "  after  some  fashion  by  the  interposition 
of  a  third.  It  also  sometimes  happens  that  dis- 
cordant atoms  thus  closely  tied  together  by  a  third 
have  their  natural  rates  so  modified  thereby  that 
they  will  remain  united  even  after  the  third  atom 


Genesis  65 

has  been  removed.  Oxygen  and  nitrogen  furnish 
an  example  of  this  latter  kind.  These  two  gases 
mix  together  to  form  air,  but  the  nitrogen  merely 
dilutes  the  oxygen,  just  as  water  dilutes  syrup. 
Their  atoms  do  not  group  together  to  form 
molecules.  But  in  the  complex  compound  known 
as  solid  ammonium  nitrate  the  oxygen  atoms  and 
the  nitrogen  atoms  are  tied  together  by  hydrogen 
atoms  into  molecules  of  the  compound.  However, 
if  the  compound  be  heated  and  agitated,  some  of 
the  oxygen  and  hydrogen  atoms  "  slip  out "  to  form 
molecules  of  water,  and  the  nitrogen  atoms  and 
remaining  oxygen  atoms  are  yet  grouped  into 
molecules  which  then  manifest  as  nitrous  oxide 
("  laughing-gas ")  which  dentists  sometimes  use  as 
an  anesthetic. 

It  is  just  possible  that  in  those  complex  com- 
pounds containing  three  or  more  different  kinds  of 
atoms  two  atoms  having  harmonic  vibratory  rates 
first  combine  to  form  an  ion  (fractional  molecule), 
and  that  the  third  atom  then  sustains  a  harmonic 
vibratory  rate  to  the  ion.  We  can  never  know 
just  the  relations  which  the  atoms  in  a  complex 
compound  sustain  to  each  other  until  we  know 
more  about  the  atoms  themselves.  It  may  even- 
tually be  ascertained  that  harmony  is  established 
between  otherwise  inharmonious  atoms  in  the 
complex  compound  by  reason  of  increased  tension 
produced  by  the  increased  magnetic  pull  caused  by 
bringing  so  many  atoms  into  one  molecule,  thereby 
quickening  the  rates  of  some  of  the  atoms  upon 


66  The  Science  of  Religion 

which  the  pull  is  most  powerfully  exerted;  but 
any  attempt  to  elucidate  such  a  possibility  would 
be  very  technical,  and  could  serve  no  useful  pur- 
pose here. 

It  is  probable  that  very  few  of  the  different 
atoms  sustain  perfect  harmonic  vibratory  relations 
to  each  other.  That  is  to  say,  the  exact  vibratory 
relation  of  3  and  9  rarely,  if  ever,  exists.  The  ex- 
act relation  would  probably  be  more  nearly  ex- 
pressed thus  :  3  and  9  TsW,  or  3  and  8  \%%\  If  it 
had  been  possible  for  all  the  atoms  to  attain  a  per- 
fect harmonic,  they  would  probably  have  attained 
it  long  ago,  and  would  have  thus  brought  to  an 
end  all  chemical  change,  all  growth,  and  all  life. 
Plants  and  trees  grow,  and  men  and  animals  live 
and  move  about,  because  the  atoms  of  which  they 
are  composed  are  constantly  seeking  perfect  har- 
monic vibratory  relations,  just  barely  failing  to 
attain  them,  separating  in  the  presence  of  a  little 
more  perfect  harmonic  for  one  of  them,  and  recom- 
bining  with  other  atoms  into  other  compounds. 
This  constitutes  "  marriage  and  divorce  in  the  min- 
eral kingdom,"  without  which  chemical  change 
and  life  and  growth  would  be  impossible. 

A  PURELY  MINERAL  WORLD 

Having  paused  for  the  purpose  of  agreeing  upon 
the  exact  meaning  of  some  of  the  terms  employed, 
we  will  now  proceed  to  a  further  consideration  of 
the  effects  of  the  complex  ethereal  wave-force  upon 
the  mineral  world  after  the  dry  land  had  been  cast 


Genesis  67 

up  from  the  water  by  the  shrinking  of  the  earth's 
interior  and  the  consequent  "wrinkling"  of  its 
hardened  surface. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  earth  began  its 
career  as  a  mass  of  white-hot  gases.  We  have  now 
briefly  traced  the  slow  and  tedious  evolution  of 
that  gaseous  mass  into  the  solid  earth,  with  conti- 
nents and  islands,  mountains  and  valleys,  rills  and 
rivers,  and  lakes  and  oceans.  But  our  present  con- 
sideration is  still  confined  to  a  period  when  con- 
ditions were  hostile  to  any  form  of  physical  life. 
Science  still  admits,  as  it  has  ever  admitted,  that  it 
cannot  explain  the  beginnings  of  life  upon  an  iso- 
lated world  which  was  at  one  time  in  such  a  con- 
dition that  life  was  impossible ;  but  for  the  purpose 
of  these  deductions  we  are  thrusting  upon  it  a 
factor  the  existence  of  which  it  has  heretofore 
denied.  To  what  it  has  already  demonstrated  and 
convincingly  deduced  we  are  adding  the  dictum  of 
a  vibratory  force  playing  upon  physical  matter 
from  without.  We  are  denying  that  the  atoms 
are  "  self -moved,"  and  are  asserting  that  they  are 
impelled  to  vibrate  by  the  play  of  a  vibratory 
force,  just  as  the  piano  string  is  impelled  to  vibrate 
by  the  play  of  air  vibrations  upon  it.  Begin- 
ning with  the  mass  of  hot  gases,  we  have  dis- 
covered the  genesis  of  the  first  compound  entity 
(a  particle  of  water)  and  the  cause  lying  immedi- 
ately back  of  that  genesis.  Still  further  applying 
this  new  dictum  of  a  complex  vibratory  force  play- 
ing upon  the  gases  from  without,  we  have  seen 


68  The  Science  of  Religion 

that  while  one  phase  of  it  caused  oxygen  and  hy- 
drogen to  unite  to  form  water,  other  phases,  or 
wave-lengths,  caused  other  gases  to  unite  into  the 
solids  which  compose  the  earth.  We  have  re- 
viewed the  drenching  of  the  solid  earth  with 
water,  its  gradual  cooling,  and  finally  its  assump- 
tion of  something  like  its  present  geographical 
form. 

But  we  are  still  contemplating  a  world  millions 
of  miles  from  all  others,  and  upon  which  there  is 
no  smallest  form  of  life.  No  fish  swims  in  the 
tepid  waters  of  any  of  its  seas,  nor  urchin  crawls 
upon  their  bottoms.  No  bird  flies  through  the  air, 
and  no  animal  (not  even  the  smallest  microbe) 
moves  upon  the  earth.  There  is  no  tree  nor  plant 
anywhere,  not  even  the  smallest  bit  of  mould.  In 
short,  it  is  a  purely  mineral  world,  made  up  en- 
tirely of  solid  minerals,  liquid  minerals,  and  gase- 
ous minerals.  But  even  as  we  contemplate  it  so, 
we  realize  that  it  has  evolved  far  away  from  gase- 
ous incandescence.  The  stage  is  thus  set  for  the 
great  drama  of  Life ;  but  there  are  no  actors  within 
millions  of  miles,  and  those  millions  of  miles  span 
chasms  which  they  cannot  cross  !  And  yet  to-day 
the  drama  is  being  enacted  through  the  very  thick- 
est of  its  maze  of  plot  and  mystery.  The  actors 
have  come  in  troupes  the  numbers  of  which  no  man 
can  estimate.     Whence  ?  and  yet  again,  How  ? 


YI 
EVOLUTION 

WE  have  seen  how  response  of  the  atoms 
to  the  vibratory  influence  of  certain 
ethereal  wave-lengths  caused  them  to 
combine  into  the  various  entities  of  the  mineral 
kingdom,  and  we  know  that  the  structural  charac- 
teristic of  the  solid  mineral  entities  is  the  crystal. 
The  formation  of  certain  crystals  has  already  been 
briefly  referred  to,  and  we  have  seen  that  Science 
does  not  know  why  the  crystals  of  one  substance 
should  have  eight  sides,  while  those  of  another  have 
only  five  or  six  sides,  nor  even  why  matter  should 
assume  a  crystalline  form  at  all.  But  it  now  becomes 
necessary  to  go  into  the  matter  a  little  more  fully. 

All  purely  mineral  solids,  whatever  their  nature 
or  outward  manifestation,  are  built  up  of  crystals  of 
various  shapes,  colours  and  sizes,  some  of  them  so 
small  that  they  can  be  seen  only  by  employing  a 
microscope.  These  crystals,  however  small  they 
may  be,  contain  many  molecules,  and  each  molecule 
is  composed  of  numerous  atoms.  It  thus  becomes 
clear,  upon  a  moment's  reflection,  that  vibratory  re- 
sponse to  certain  ethereal  wave-lengths  of  force 
causes  atoms  to  so  group  together  as  to  form  crys- 
tals. Just  why  response  to  those  certain  wave- 
lengths causes  the  atoms  to  so  group  themselves,  we 

69 


yo  The  Science  of  Religion 

do  not  know,  any  more  than  we  know  why  it  is 
that  snow-crystals  retain  the  general  form  of  irregu- 
lar discs  with  six  points  or  spangles  through  all 
their  various  modifications.  This  is  a  secret  locked 
in  a  compartment  of  Nature's  great  storehouse  of 
wisdom  to  which  man  has  not  yet  found  the  key. 
One  crude  experiment  with  the  operation  of  this  un- 
known law  has  been  worked  out  with  a  drum,  a 
violin,  and  a  little  sawdust.  The  sawdust  is 
sprinkled  lightly  on  the  drumhead.  Then  a  deep 
note  of  the  violin,  such  as  will  cause  the  drumhead 
to  vibrate,  is  sounded  in  close  proximity  to  it.  The 
sawdust  vibrates  in  response  to  the  drumhead,  and 
soon  begins  to  gather  in  groups  the  general  outlines 
of  each  of  which  bear  a  crude  resemblance  to  all 
the  others.  These  groups  will  not  break  up  so  long 
as  the  same  note  is  sounded ;  but  if  the  note  be 
changed  to  another  key,  they  will  break  up  and  re- 
form into  other  groups  having  general  outlines 
materially  different  from  the  outlines  of  the  first 
groups,  but  crudely  similar  to  each  other. 

This  experiment  is  so  crude  as  to  be  of  but  little 
practical  value.  But  crude  though  it  be,  it  does 
demonstrate  the  general  principle  that  when  small 
particles  of  matter  are  agitated  into  rapid  vibration 
they  tend  to  group  together  in  certain  forms,  and  that 
these  forms  are  determined  by  the  rate  of  vibration. 

VEGETABLE  CELLS 

While  we  know  that  the  structural  characteristic 
of  the  entities  of  the  mineral  kingdom  is  the  crystal, 


Evolution  71 

and  that  the  entities  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  are 
composed  of  atoms  drawn  from  the  mineral  king- 
dom, we  also  know  that  the  structural  characteris- 
tic of  the  entities  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  is  the 
plastic  cell.  The  mineral  crystal  is  a  hard,  irregu- 
lar body,  with  straight  lines  and  abrupt  angles, 
while  the  vegetable  cell  is  usually  globular  in  form, 
smooth  in  outline,  and  plastic  in  its  general  nature. 
And  yet  the  vegetable  cell  is  constructed  of  the 
same  kinds  of  atoms  as  go  into  the  structure  of  the 
crystal.  Carbon,  occurring  almost  pure  in  the  form 
of  graphite,  and  as  a  constituent  of  a  compound  in 
marble  and  many  other  mineral  substances,  assumes 
the  crystalline  form.  Occurring  again  almost  pure 
in  cotton,  and  as  a  constituent  of  many  other  organic 
substances,  it  assumes  the  cellular  form.  And  what 
is  here  said  of  carbon  may  be  said  with  equal  truth 
of  all  other  mineral  substances  utilized  in  vegetable 
growth. 

We  have  already  noted  that  the  entities  of  the 
mineral  kingdom  were  built  up  long  before  there 
were  any  vegetable  entities,  and  we  now  observe 
that  the  various  atoms  assumed  the  crystalline  forms 
appearing  in  mineral  building  because  of  their  vi- 
bratory response  to  the  longer  waves  of  the  complex 
force  playing  upon  them.  "We  have  also  observed 
that  Science  is  ready  to  admit  that  the  atoms  are  in 
process  of  evolutionary  modification  and  refinement. 
We  have  reasoned  that  if  the  atoms  are  really  sus- 
ceptible of  refinement,  they  must  have  undergone 
marked  refining  changes  after  their  first  response  to 


72  The  Science  of  Religion 

force  and  during  the  inestimable  ages  through 
which  they  struggled  against  "  a  hostile  environ- 
ment "  for  harmonic  matings  among  themselves. 
We  have  also  sensed  and  crudely  demonstrated  a 
natural  law  which  impels  small  particles  of  matter 
to  assume  one  form  of  aggregation  upon  response  to 
a  particular  vibratory  rate,  and  to  assume  a  differ- 
ent form  of  aggregation  upon  response  to  a  different 
vibratory  rate.  And  now  we  are  confronted  with 
the  momentous  question:  What  happened  when 
the  atoms  at  and  near  the  surface  of  the  earth  were 
so  modified  and  refined  that  they  responded  to 
shorter  wave-lengths  of  force  than  those  which 
caused  them  to  aggregate  into  mineral  crystals  ? 

The  answer  forces  itself  upon  us  with  such 
unerring  certainty  that  we  cannot  escape  it. 
They  began  to  aggregate  in  the  form  of  vegetable 
cells  ! 

The  transition  from  simple  mineral  compound  to 
complex  vegetable  cell  was  not  accomplished  at  a 
single  bound.  As  the  atoms  of  the  mineral  king- 
dom were  gradually  refined  and  quickened  their 
groupings  became  more  and  more  complex,  the  re- 
sulting compounds  becoming  more  and  more  un- 
stable, until  at  last  such  mineral  media  appeared 
that  it  was  but  a  step  to  the  vegetable  cell. 

This  new  entity,  the  vegetable  cell,  possessed  a 
characteristic  which  was  also  something  new  in  the 
world.  It  had  a  strong  affinity  for  certain  mineral 
atoms,  which  it  absorbed  ;  and,  absorbing,  grew. 
Then  it  "  nucleated  "  and  split  into  two  cells,  and 


Evolution  73 

these  absorbed  and  grew,  and  split  again.  In  short, 
it  could  reproduce  its  kind. 

A  great  scientist  once  said  that  if  he  could  ex- 
plain the  genesis  of  a  single  vegetable  cell,  he 
could  account  for  all  the  life  in  the  world  ;  because 
he  could  show  how  it  would  be  possible  for  that 
one  cell  to  develop  into  all  the  forms  of  life,  both 
vegetable  and  animal,  which  have  appeared  upon 
the  earth.  But  he  could  not  explain  the  genesis  of 
that  one  cell.  He  denied  the  existence  of  force 
acting  upon  matter  from  without,  and  could  find 
no  logical  reason  why  dead  mineral  matter  should, 
of  its  own  inherent  potency,  become  living  vege- 
table matter.  We  have  here  reasoned  out  his  "  miss- 
ing link  "  (the  genesis  of  the  vegetable  cell),  using 
the  findings  and  deductions  of  Science,  with  noth- 
ing added  except  the  one  dictum  of  force  acting 
upon  matter  from  without,  which  added  dictum 
Eeligion  has  always  proposed,  and  which  many 
eminent  scientists  now  accept. 

If  our  only  interest  were  in  the  subject  of  phys- 
ical evolution,  we  might  stop  here;  because  the 
evolutionists  have  henceforward  fully  covered  all 
the  debatable  ground.  But  be  it  remembered  that 
one  of  the  primary  purposes  of  this  quest  is  to  find 
some  kind  of  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the  question, 
"  If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again  ?  "  Therefore, 
while  we  are  vitally  interested  in  the  evolution  of 
the  matter  of  which  our  physical  bodies  are  com- 
posed, the  knowledge  we  seek  in  that  field  is  only 
incidental,   our  principal  purpose  being  to  deter- 


74  The  Science  of  Religion 

mine  whether  or  not  there  is  any  place  in  the 
known  realms  of  nature  for  other  things  than  the 
purely  physical.  If  we  should  find  that  there  is 
room  for  other  things  than  physical  matter  and  its 
phenomena,  then  the  fundamental  beliefs  of  Ke- 
ligion  will  stand  unrefuted,  even  though  they  may 
not  be  deemed  to  be  corroborated. 


VII 
THE  GEEAT  PLAN 

WE  have  now  deduced  the  genesis  of  vege- 
table life,  and  have  found  that  it  was 
the  next  evolutionary  step  after  the 
formation  of  the  entities  of  the  mineral  kingdom. 
If  we  can  further  demonstrate  that  it  was  necessa- 
rily the  next  step,  our  deductions  will  be  consider- 
ably strengthened.  The  writer  of  the  book  of 
Genesis  says  it  was  actually  the  next  step,  but  so 
long  as  we  are  merely  striving  to  show  the  prob- 
ability of  extra-physical  force  and  the  possibility 
of  super-physical  matter,  we  have  promised  not  to 
rely  upon  the  authority  of  any  sacred  writing,  and 
to  "  carry  the  fighting  into  the  enemy's  country." 

TEMPERING  HARSH  CONDITIONS 

When  the  earth's  temperature  had  dropped  to  a 
degree  at  which  vegetable  life  was  possible,  its  at- 
mosphere was  still  in  such  condition  that  it  was 
not  fit  for  animal  respiration.  Some  carbon  prob- 
ably then  existed  in  precipitate  form,  but  the  great 
mass  of  it  now  appearing  in  our  coal  and  oil  fields, 
and  in  animal  and  vegetable  entities,  was  still  in 
a  gaseous  state  and  so  polluted  the  lower  atmos- 
phere that  no  animal  could  have  lived  in  it. 
Furthermore,  no  animal  can  subsist  upon  the  crys- 

75 


76  The  Science  of  Religion 

talline  mineral  kingdom.  One  animal  may  subsist 
upon  another,  which  in  turn  subsisted  upon  yet  an- 
other, and  so  on  through  a  long  chain ;  but  at  the 
end  of  the  chain  there  must  be  a  victim  which  sub- 
sisted upon  vegetation. 

Therefore,  it  was  necessary  that  vegetable  en- 
tities should  immediately  succeed  mineral  entities, 
for  at  least  two  reasons ;  first,  in  order  to  purify 
the  air  of  its  carbon ;  and,  second,  in  order  to  pro- 
vide food  upon  which  animals  could  subsist. 

No  one  knows  whether  vegetation  came  into  the 
world  through  the  medium  of  a  few  cells  capable 
of  growth  and  reproduction,  or  whether  it  had  its 
beginning  in  profusion ;  but  we  do  know  that  there 
was  wonderful  profusion  during  the  Carboniferous 
Period,  and  that  the  dominant  specimens  were 
coarse,  immense  and  grotesque.  And  here,  for  the 
first  time,  we  get  a  glimpse  of  Nature's  great  Evo- 
lutionary Plan.  The  events  under  consideration 
begin  to  assume  order  and  to  evince  the  rudiments 
of  some  kind  of  a  purpose. 

FURTHER  REFINING 

Although  the  atoms  must  have  been  considerably 
refined  during  the  time  in  which  the  earth  was 
cooling  and  solidifying,  as  already  pointed  out, 
thus  fitting  them  for  vibratory  response  to  shorter 
force- waves  which  caused  them  to  integrate  into 
vegetable  forms,  they  were  still  too  coarse  and 
sluggish  for  vibratory  response  to  the  still  shorter 
force-waves  which  might  impel  them  to  integrate 


The  Great  Plan  77 

into  higher  forms.  Therefore  a  still  further  and 
wholesale  refining  at  and  near  the  earth's  surface 
was  the  next  orderly  step.  This  additional  refine- 
ment was  accomplished  by  means  of  a  great  profusion 
of  simple  and  immense  forms  of  vegetation  which 
gathered  up  from  the  earth  and  pulled  down  from 
the  air  vast  quantities  of  mineral  matter,  the  atoms 
of  which  matter  it  ground  in  a  veritable  Mill  of 
Life  and  tied  together  into  more  highly  complex 
molecules  than  any  which  had  appeared  in  the 
mineral  kingdom.  This  grinding  process,  and  this 
grouping  into  more  complex  entities,  must  have 
still  further  refined  the  atoms  and  prepared  them 
for  vibratory  response  to  yet  shorter  force- waves. 

Knowing,  as  we  do,  that  all  physical  bodies  at- 
tract each  other,  unless  some  repellent  force  inter- 
poses, and  having  found  that  atoms  are  peculiarly 
susceptible  to  this  law  of  attraction  by  reason  of 
their  mixed  positive  and  negative  character;  and 
knowing,  furthermore,  that  if  the  mass  be  increased, 
either  by  increasing  the  size  of  the  body  or  increas- 
ing the  number  of  bodies,  the  attractive  pull  upon 
each  waxes  stronger  ;  it  seems  not  beyond  the  range 
of  possibility  that  the  increased  number  of  atoms  oc- 
curring in  the  more  complex  molecules  which  came 
at  the  latter  end  of  the  purely  mineral  period,  and 
at  the  beginning  of  the  vegetable  period,  might 
have  resulted  in  a  stronger  magnetic  pull  within  the 
molecule,  and  a  correspondingly  increased  tensile 
strain  upon  each  individual  atom ;  thereby  hasten- 
ing the  vibratory  response  of  the  atoms  to  higher 


78  The  Science  of  Religion 

vibratory  rates  through  an  increase  in  their  tension, 
just  as  a  piano  string  may  be  made  to  respond  to 
higher  or  shorter  vibrations  by  increasing  its  tension. 
But  if  we  attempt  to  fit  such  a  theory  into  the 
known  facts  concerning  the  properties  of  matter,  we 
encounter  actions  and  reactions  of  which  but  little 
is  known,  and  are  confronted  with  apparent  contra- 
dictions which  cannot  be  reconciled  by  anything 
short  of  a  course  of  long  sustained  and  highly  tech- 
nical reasoning  covering  all  those  known  and  par- 
tially known  things  which  Physics  elaborately  treats 
under  such  sub-titles  as  "  Gravitation,"  "  Periodic- 
ity," " Elasticity,"  "Viscosity,"  "Kenetics,"  "Kadia- 
tion,"  etc.  Manifestly,  such  treatment  is  both  im- 
practicable and  undesirable  in  a  work  of  this  kind. 
Such  a  theory,  while  its  correctness  is  possible,  and 
while  it  is  very  inviting  to  speculative  reasoning,  is 
not  necessary  to  show  the  persuasive  possibility  that 
matter  has  evolved  from  stage  to  stage,  and  from 
form  to  form,  under  the  mobilizing  influence  of  force- 
waves  acting  upon  its  particles  through  the  medium 
of  the  all-pervading  ether.  Mere  refinement  of  the 
atoms  from  age  to  age  accounts  for  this  evolution- 
ary progress,  regardless  of  whether  or  not  their 
tension  increased  as  they  grouped  into  more  com- 
plex forms,  and  average  intelligence  can  easily  com- 
prehend the  possibility  of  such  refinement. 

EVIDENCES  OF  REFINEMENT 

Evidence  of  the  gradual  refinement  of  physical 
matter  is  everywhere  apparent,  to  whatever  cause 


The  Great  Plan  79 

we  may  see  fit  to  attribute  such  refinement.  Many 
of  the  minerals  have  been  refined  into  compounds, 
so  that  they  have  become  available  as  food  for 
plants  and  trees,  whereas  in  their  pure  state  they 
were  not  available  as  such  food.  As  instances  :  ni- 
trogen has  been  combined  into  nitrates  ;  phosphorus 
has  been  compounded  into  phosphate  ;  and  metallic 
potassium  has  blended  into  potash  salts.  The 
earth's  geological  strata  show  that  vegetation  has 
gradually  become  more  refined,  delicate  and  com- 
plex. There  were  no  cauliflowers,  nor  Easter 
Lilies,  nor  strawberries,  nor  roses,  during  the  Car- 
boniferous period;  because  there  was  no  mineral 
matter  then  sufficiently  refined  either  to  produce  or 
sustain  them.  But  the  giant  ferns  and  mosses  which 
dominated  the  vegetation  of  that  period  were  tem- 
pering harsh  conditions  against  the  time  when  the 
finer  forms  should  be  needed. 

As  the  general  outlines  of  the  great  Plan  thus 
begin  to  assume  form  and  connective  sequence  be- 
fore our  amazed  contemplation,  we  are  awe-stricken 
by  its  immeasurable  scope  and  infinite  wisdom.  We 
begin  to  understand  that  there  was  method  in  the 
movement  of  force  upon  gaseous  incandescence,  and 
that  each  step  was  apparently  taken  in  pursuance 
of  an  intelligent  plan.  Kealizing  that  there  was  a 
plan,  we  are  compelled  also  to  realize  that  there 
must  have  been  a  purpose,  and  to  wonder  what  that 
purpose  was. 


YIII 
THE  GENESIS  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE 

HAYING  accepted  the  dictum  of  a  complex 
wave-force  pulsating  through  the  all-per- 
vading ether  and  playing  upon  the  super- 
heated gases  of  which  the  earth  was  once  wholly 
composed,  we  have  brought  order  out  of  the  chaotic 
findings  of  Science  concerning  the  mineral  kingdom, 
and  have  brought  to  light  the  working  plans  accord- 
ing to  which  the  solid  earth  was  builded.  Now, 
still  holding  fast  to  the  idea  of  a  university  of  law, 
we  have  found  that  a  little  different  phase,  or  wave- 
length, of  the  same  force  which  caused  the  atoms  to 
group  into  mineral  crystals  caused  those  same  atoms 
to  group  into  vegetable  cells,  thus  covering  the 
solid  earth  with  vegetation.  But  in  the  period  now 
immediately  under  consideration  there  was  no  ani- 
mal life,  not  even  the  smallest  microbe.  However, 
we  have  had  a  glimpse  of  the  general  outlines  of  a 
plan  for  so  controlling  the  modes  of  motion  of  the 
small  particles  of  matter  as  to  cause  them  to  inte- 
grate into  ever  finer  and  better  forms  ;  and  we  have 
observed  that  this  refining  process  was  still  at  work 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  We  are  thus  led  to  sur- 
mise that  when  the  refining  process  wrought  out 
during  the  purely  vegetable  period  had  reached  a 
certain  point,  a  still  finer  phase,  or  wave-length,  of 

80 


The  Genesis  of  Animal  Life  81 

the  complex  vibratory  force  found  vibratory  re- 
sponse in  the  refined  atoms,  and  so  caused  them  to 
integrate  into  even  more  complex  and  improved 
forms  of  cells.  According  to  all  the  deductions  and 
findings  of  Science,  this  latter  is  exactly  what  hap- 
pened. Science  admits  all  of  this,  save  only  the 
play  of  force  from  without.  It  admits  all  these 
stages  and  transformations,  and  the  working  out  of 
all  these  forms,  in  the  exact  order  named ;  but  it 
contends  that  all  these  changes  and  transformations 
occurred  by  reason  of  some  potency  inherent  in  phys- 
ical matter  itself,  which  potency  it  does  not  even 
pretend  to  understand,  much  less  explain.  Accord- 
ing to  its  view,  the  vibrating  atoms  and  molecules 
are  "  self-moved,"  and  in  some  mysterious  and  un- 
known way  they  have  worked  out  all  the  different 
and  complex  phenomena  of  integration,  life  and 
growth. 

ANIMAL  CELLS 

As  the  refining  process  continued  in  the  realm  of 
vegetation,  the  vegetable  forms  continued  to  grow 
more  and  more  complex  in  structural  composition, 
and  finer  in  form  and  texture,  until  they  were  ca- 
pable of  being  utilized  as  food  by  a  higher  form  of 
life.  This  refining  process,  traced  to  its  founda- 
tion, rested  upon  a  gradual  refinement  of  the  atoms 
and  their  grouping  into  more  and  more  complex 
vegetable  cells.  When  a  certain  stage  of  refine- 
ment and  complexity  had  been  reached,  the  same 
atoms  which  were  once  components  of  incandescent 


82  The  Science  of  Religion 

gas,  and  which  had  successively  integrated  into 
mineral  crystals  and  vegetable  cells,  refined  and 
quickened  by  each  new  experience,  began  group- 
ing themselves  into  animal  cells,  resulting  in  the 
production  of  entities  which  not  only  had  the 
power  to  absorb  and  grow,  but  which  could  also 
feel  and  move  about. 

COARSE  ANIMAL  FORMS 

We  do  not  know  whether  the  first  animal  cells 
were  but  vegetable  cells  evolved,  or  whether  they 
were  entirely  new  aggregations  of  atoms.  Neither 
do  we  know  whether  animal  life  began  with  a  few 
cells,  or  whether  it  came  with  immediate  profu- 
sion ;  but  we  do  know  that  in  its  early  stages  it 
was  very  profuse,  and  that  its  dominant  specimens 
were  coarse,  immense  and  grotesque.  Finer  forms 
were  yet  to  come,  and  additional  refinement  of 
physical  matter  must  needs  be  first  accomplished. 
Man  could  not  have  subsisted  upon  the  vegetation 
which  fed  the  first  mastodon,  and  a  dinosaurus 
steak  would  probably  have  proved  a  poison,  rather 
than  a  food.  The  mammoth,  the  mastodon  and 
the  dinosaurus  were  quite  otherwise  than  beautiful, 
according  to  our  present  aesthetic  standards;  but 
their  immense  bodies  were  capable  of  assimilating 
vast  quantities  of  coarse  physical  matter  and  grind- 
ing it  through  another  mill  of  life,  thus  preparing 
it  for  finer  manifestations. 

Thus  does  the  great  Plan  further  unfold  as  we  pro- 
ceed.    The  mastodon  and  the  dinosaurus  are  gone ; 


The  Genesis  of  Animal  Life  83 

and  gone  are  the  giant  ferns  and  mosses  which 
once  enjungled  the  earth ;  but  at  last  we  are 
learning  the  secret  of  their  existence,  and  that  they 
did  not  live  and  die  in  vain.  Hideous  and  £ro- 
tesque  though  they  undoubtedly  were,  they  never- 
theless filled  their  little  place  and  served  their 
little  turn  in  the  great  scheme  of  things,  and  were 
indispensable  links  in  the  chain  of  events  which 
transformed  gaseous  incandescence  into  the  teem- 
ing world  of  life  and  intelligence  which  we  know 
to-day.  During  the  age  in  which  they  lived  there 
were  no  cows,  no  poodles,  no  hogs,  no  canary 
birds ;  because  physical  conditions  were  still  too 
crude  for  the  production  of  these  higher  forms — 
the  environment  was  too  "  hostile  "  for  such  battle 
as  they  could  have  offered.  Possibly  these  later 
and  finer  forms  were  evolved  from  progenitors 
that  were  contemporaneous  with  the  huge  animals 
here  under  consideration;  but  if  so,  they  have 
evolved  very  far  from  them,  whether  we  try  to 
trace  such  evolution  upward  in  point  of  size,  or 
downward. 

THE  LAW  OF  NATURAL  SELECTION 

But  the  refining  process  continued  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  just  as  it  had  continued  in  the  mineral 
and  vegetable  kingdoms.  In  the  mineral  kingdom 
the  only  bond  between  the  positive  and  negative 
entities  was  magnetic  attraction,  and  their  unions 
were  barren  of  offspring.  In  the  vegetable  king- 
dom the  rudiments  of  sex  appeared ;  and  thus  came 


84  The  Science  of  Religion 

into  the  world  the  "Law  of  Natural  Selection" 
of  which  the  evolutionists  make  so  much,  and 
which  resulted  in  the  reproduction  of  ever  finer 
and  more  varied  forms.  In  the  animal  kingdom 
this  principle  of  sex,  faintly  foreshadowed  in  the 
division  of  the  atoms  into  positive  and  negative, 
and  becoming  more  marked  and  potent  in  the  veg- 
etable kingdom,  reached  a  much  higher  develop- 
ment, and  the  consequent  improvement  and  vari- 
ation through  reproduction  was  all  the  more  rapid. 
And  so  it  was  that  the  forms  of  animal  life  grad- 
ually increased  in  refinement  and  variety.  Such 
forms  as  were  modified  to  meet  changing  condi- 
tions survived  and  variegated,  and  such  as  failed  to 
keep  pace  with  changing  conditions  perished.  And 
thus  was  evolved  the  fauna  which  we  know  to-day. 

MAN 

Finally,  when  physical  matter  had  been  suffi- 
ciently refined  and  quickened,  came  that  superimpo- 
sition  upon  the  animal  kingdom  who  chooses  to 
call  himself  Man.  He  is  the  best  individual  ex- 
pression of  the  great  Plan,  being  the  last  in  an 
ever-improving  series.  He  is  the  result  of  shorter 
force-waves  than  those  which  integrated  all  the 
forms  of  life  below  him;  that  is,  those  peculiar 
traits  and  characteristics  which  make  him  Man  are 
the  result  of  response  by  the  atoms  of  which  he  is 
composed  to  those  shorter  and  more  rapid  force- 
waves.  He  may  be  merely  an  involved  ape,  or  he 
may  be  a  special  creation.     That  he  has  greatly 


The  Genesis  of  Animal  Life  85 

improved  and  variegated  through  natural  selection 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  But  he  is  moved  by  higher 
forces  and  impelled  by  finer  impulses  than  are  the 
rounds  of  sentient  life  below  him.  He  can  not  only 
feel,  and  move  about,  and  think ;  but  he  can  also 
will,  and  reason,  and  choose  contrary  to  his  im- 
pulses. He  is  not  only  conscious  of  his  environ- 
ment, but  is  conscious  of  himself,  and  reasons  upon 
his  individual  relation  to  the  universal  scheme  of 
things.  Tried  out  in  the  chemical  laboratory,  the 
composition  of  his  body  is  not  notably  different 
from  that  of  animal  bodies ;  considered  from  the 
purely  physical  standpoint,  he  is  merely  an  aggre- 
gation of  the  same  atoms  which  were  once  in  the 
fiery  cloud-ball,  and  which  have  successively  inte- 
grated into  mineral  entities,  vegetable  entities  and 
animal  entities,  with  all  of  which  entities  he  shares 
much  in  common.  But  we  see  in  him  potential- 
ities of  which  there  is  no  sign  of  inherence  in  the 
physical  matter  of  which  those  other  entities  are 
composed.  While  he  is  closely  related  to  the  ani- 
mal, he  is  animal  with  something  added.  He  is 
an  animal  the  particles  of  whose  body  have  at- 
tained to  a  degree  of  refinement  and  complexity 
enabling  them  to  respond  to  force-waves  which  find 
no  response  in  the  particles  of  which  other  animal 
bodies  are  built  up. 

HANDMAIDENS   OF   EVOLUTION 

In  the  realm  of  humanity  the  Law  of  Natural 
Selection  is  quickened  in  its  selective  evolutionary 


86  The  Science  of  Religion 

impulse  by  those  characteristics  found  only  in  that 
realm.  In  other  words,  each  finer  characteristic 
which  Nature  has  developed  has  become  its  hand- 
maiden, and  has  lent  its  potency  to  more  rapid  and 
complex  evolution.  When  the  vegetable  cell  was 
developed,  it  did  not  passively  wait  for  food  until 
the  surrounding  mineral  atoms  were  fully  refined 
to  its  own  degree:  it  possessed  a  refining  power 
and  local  vibratory  radiation  of  its  own,  and  it  ex- 
erted this  power  in  refining  the  partially  refined 
mineral  atoms  to  its  own  degree,  thereby  utilizing 
them  as  food  and  producing  the  phenomena  of 
growth  and  reproduction.  And,  similarly,  the 
animal  cell,  when  it  came,  possessed  and  used  the 
power  of  refining  vegetable  matter  to  its  own  de- 
gree. The  blind  and  indiscriminate  attractions 
between  the  positive  and  negative  particles  of  the 
mineral  kingdom  developed  into  a  selective  affinity 
in  the  vegetable  kingdom  which  was  almost  as 
blind  and  indiscriminate,  but  the  functions  and 
activities  of  these  two  kinds  of  particles  were 
greatly  accentuated.  In  the  mineral  kingdom 
harmonic  matings  were  the  result  of  chance  meet- 
ings. ~No  one  atom  made  any  effort  to  meet  an- 
other. In  the  vegetable  kingdom  the  active  parti- 
cles began  to  seek  the  passive  particles,  and  the 
passive  particles  waited  to  be  sought.  The  passive 
acorn-  and  nut-cells  on  the  oak  and  hickory,  for  in- 
stance, remained  stationary  on  the  twig  where  they 
grew,  while  the  active  particles  of  pollen  from  the 
tassels  of  the  same  trees  left  their  parent  stems, 


The  Genesis  of  Animal  Life  87 

drifted  about  in  the  air,  or  were  carried  on  the  legs 
of  insects,  and  one  of  them  chancing  to  come  into 
contact  with  the  orifice  of  a  passive  cell-duct,  it  trav- 
elled along  that  cell-duct  until  it  reached  and  com- 
bined with  the  passive  cell  itself,  thus  forming  the 
beginnings  of  another  tree  of  probable  finer  quali- 
ties than  any  other  which  had  theretofore  appeared. 

In  the  animal  kingdom  the  active  and  passive 
character  of  the  two  kinds  of  entities  became  more 
marked,  and  there  entered  the  additional  and  some- 
what discriminate  elements  of  passive  desire  and 
active  will  and  choice.  The  female  was  still  passive 
and  receptive,  and  the  new  element  of  desire  which 
had  its  genesis  in  her  kind  was  a  desire  with  some 
slight  range  of  discrimination — she  was  generally 
more  susceptible  to  the  wooing  of  some  males  of 
her  kind  than  to  that  of  others.  And  among  the 
male  entities  of  the  animal  kingdom  active  will 
took  the  place  of  the  chances  incident  to  fickle 
wind-currents  and  capricious  insects. 

When  humanity  appeared  upon  the  earth,  its  two 
kinds  of  entities  had  inherent  in  them  all  the  ele- 
ments of  attraction  for  each  other  which  had  gov- 
erned the  entities  in  the  realms  below  them.  The 
female  was  still  passive  and  receptive.  She  was 
still  very  largely  governed  by  desire,  but  her  range 
of  discriminatory  choice  was  much  broader  than 
had  been  its  range  in  the  animal  kingdom.  The 
male  was  still  active  and  aggressive,  but  those  pro- 
pensities were  largely  directed  and  controlled  by 
the  power  of  will  and  the  faculty  of  reason. 


88  The  Science  of  Religion 

Thus  the  Law  of  Natural  Selection  gathered  re- 
cruits at  each  new  accomplishment.  It  gathered 
force,  momentum  and  scope  as  it  proceeded.  And 
through  the  cooperation  of  these  recruited  forces, 
and  the  consequent  increase  of  its  scope  and  power, 
its  products  became  ever  finer  until  present  condi- 
tions were  attained.  Speculation  as  to  whether 
physical  matter  may  some  time  respond  to  yet 
higher  forces,  and  thus  aggregate  into  still  higher 
forms,  would  carry  us  far  beyond  the  field  which 
we  are  here  trying  to  briefly  explore  and  partially 
comprehend.  The  writer  of  the  book  of  Genesis 
says  that  when  God  had  created  man  and  woman 
"  he  rested  from  all  his  labours,"  and  apparently  this 
is  true.  So  far  as  the  physical  world  is  concerned, 
the  end  of  the  Plan  seems  to  have  been  thus 
reached. 

LOVE 

And  what  is  this  force  which  we  have  traced 
from  atom  to  man?  We  have  already  conceded 
that  we  do  not  know  whence  it  comes.  But  upon 
a  moment's  reflection  we  realize  that  it  is  a  vibra- 
tory principle  in  nature  which  impels  every  entity 
to  seek  harmonic  mating  with  another  similar 
entity  of  opposite  polarity.  We  find  the  first  faint 
manifestation  of  this  great  force  in  the  magnetic 
attractions  and  vibratory  affinities  which  impel 
atoms  to  unite  into  mineral  substances.  In  the 
vegetable  kingdom  we  see  it  manifesting  as  selec- 
tion ;  in  the  animal  kingdom  it  assumes  the  form 


The  Genesis  of  Animal  Life  89 

of  lust ;  and  in  the  human  kingdom  it  is  evolved 
iuto  love. 

Darwin  concluded  that  evolution  was  the  result 
of  feeding  and  breeding  and  battling  against  a 
hostile  environment,  and  nothing  more.  Drummond 
set  out  to  refute  some  of  Darwin's  conclusions  by- 
showing  that  Love,  which  he  rightfully  concluded 
is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world,  could  not  be  ex- 
plained under  the  feeding,  breeding  and  battling 
theory ;  but  he  finally  lost  his  way  in  a  maze  of 
inconsistencies,  and  concluded  that  Love  came 
through  so  much  suffering  and  sacrifice  that  it 
might  be  said  it  was  thrust  upon  the  world  at  the 
point  of  a  sword.  According  to  the  hypothesis 
under  which  we  are  here  proceeding,  evolution  is 
the  result  of  cooperation  and  harmony,  and  Love  is 
the  force  behind  it.  While  Darwin  concluded  that 
evolution  is  unmindful  of  the  individual,  looking 
only  to  improvement  of  the  species,  we  are  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  it  aims  at  the  well-being  of 
the  individual,  improvement  of  the  species  follow- 
ing as  a  necessary  result.  Evolution  thus  seems  to 
be  predicated  upon  something  other  than  feeding 
and  breeding  and  battling.  Viewed  in  this  light, 
Love  cannot  be  the  mere  result  of  suffering  and 
sacrifice,  nor  can  we  agree  that  it  was  thrust  upon 
the  world  at  the  point  of  a  sword :  on  the  con- 
trary, it  is  indeed  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world, 
and  is  the  impelling  force  back  of  all  action, 
life  and  intelligence  occurring  as  concomitants  of 
matter. 


90  The  Science  of  Religion 

nature's  final  products 
From  the  last  alembic  in  Nature's  complex  labo- 
ratory came  these  two  final  products — Man  and 
Woman.  They  are  all  too  often  marred  in  the 
making,  physically,  mentally  and  morally ;  but  the 
ideal  is  frequently  very  nearly  approached,  and 
since  we  are  seeking  the  end  of  the  Plan,  we  must 
look  to  the  ideal.  As  we  contemplate  the  ideal 
man  and  the  ideal  woman,  standing  before  us  as 
the  very  embodiment  of  strength  and  beauty ;  pul- 
sating with  life  ;  self-conscious  in  the  exercise  of 
their  wonderful  faculties  and  powers  of  will  and 
desire,  reason  and  intuition ;  so  unlike  in  their  es- 
sential natures,  and  yet  having  their  destinies  so 
closely  bound  up  together ;  and  when  we  remem- 
ber that  they  are  the  final  products  of  so  many 
tedious  millions  of  years  of  refinement  and  prog- 
ress, beginning  with  the  atoms  in  the  fiery  globe 
and  running  through  all  the  changes  we  have  tried 
to  trace :  we  can  but  wonder  if  they  are  nothing 
else  than  aggregations  of  physical  matter  which 
must  soon  be  resolved  back  into  the  elements  from 
which  they  came.  Science  sentences  them  to  swift 
and  eternal  death:  Keligion  can  only  bid  them 
hope.  Is  the  sentence  imposed  by  Science  a 
legal  sentence  ?  Is  it  supported  by  the  law  and 
the  evidence  ? 


IX 
WIDE  OPEN  DOOES 

IT  was  said  in  a  previous  chapter,  during  a  dis- 
cussion of  Compressibility,  that  the  known 
distances  intervening  between  the  ultimate 
particles  of  all  physical  matter  are  so  many  open 
doors  through  which  Religion  may  escape  from 
the  wall  of  facts  with  which  Science  has  tried  to 
impound  it.     We  now  approach  those  doors. 

SUPER-PHYSICAL  MATTER 

Until  now  we  have  devoted  our  attention  to  the 
problem  of  extra-physical  force  and  its  effects  upon 
physical  matter,  hurriedly  tracing  its  working  out 
of  ever  finer  and  higher  physical  forms.  JSTo  effort 
has  been  made  to  prove,  nor  even  to  deduce,  the 
existence  of  super-physical  matter.  The  existence 
of  such  super-physical  matter  cannot  be  either 
proved  or  disproved  by  the  present  methods  and 
appliances  of  Science ;  because,  as  has  already  been 
noted,  those  methods  and  appliances  have  not  yet 
enabled  it  to  reach  the  end  of  physical  matter.  It 
has  just  barely  attained  to  knowledge  that  all 
physical  matter  is  composed  of  very  small  particles 
called  atoms  which  are  not  in  contact  with  each 
other.  It  does  not  know  of  what  the  atoms  are 
composed  :  its  savants  are  still  bickering  over  vari- 

91 


92  The  Science  of  Religion 

ous  theories  touching  this  point.  These  same  limi- 
tations which  make  it  impossible  to  prove  the  ex- 
istence of  super-physical  matter  also  make  it 
impossible  to  prove  its  non-existence.     So  there ! 

The  net  of  experiment  which  Science  has  set  to 
catch  the  atoms  of  physical  matter  is  of  such  large 
mesh  that  they  pass  through  it;  but  in  passing 
through  they  cause  the  cork-line  to  bobble,  and 
scientists  are  thus  advised  of  their  passing.  If  there 
are  smaller  atoms  than  those  which  compose  phys- 
ical matter,  they  freely  escape  without  registering 
any  sign  of  their  passing. 

We  have  observed  that  the  ultimate  particles  of 
physical  matter  are,  in  most  instances,  if  not  in  all, 
separated  from  each  other  by  distances  much 
greater  than  their  individual  diameters.  We  have 
seen  that  water,  one  of  the  most  nearly  incompress- 
ible substances  in  the  physical  realm,  is  composed 
of  particles  which  are  comparatively  far  apart. 

What,  if  anything,  occupies  those  spaces  between 
the  ultimate  particles  of  physical  matter  ?  Science 
does  not  know !  Do  the  smaller  atoms  of  a  ma- 
terial finer  than  physical  material  gambol  across 
those  uncharted  fields  ?  Science  is  utterly  unable 
to  answer ! 

We  thus  come  at  last  to  the  very  end  of  scien- 
tific knowledge  concerning  matter,  and  at  this 
point  the  great  majority  of  our  scientific  friends 
will  probably  bid  us  farewell.  They  will  return 
to  their  culture-media  and  alembics,  their  micro- 
scopes and  spectroscopes,  their  chemical  formulae 


Wide  Open  Doors  93 

and  tables  of  atomic  weights.  May  all  the  powers 
of  good  attend  them  in  their  great  work  of  eman- 
cipating humanity  from  the  bondage  of  ignorance, 
superstition  and  disease,  and  making  this  physical 
world  a  better  place  for  human  abode!  Never- 
theless, they  are  most  cordially  invited  to  remain 
with  us  yet  a  little  longer  ;  for,  although  we  have 
admitted  that  we  cannot  prove  the  existence  of 
super-physical  matter  by  the  employment  of  their 
methods  and  implements,  we  shall  still  continue  to 
employ  their  facts  and  findings  and  methods  of 
deduction  in  an  attempt  to  reason  out  the  probable 
existence  of  such  matter. 

HUMAN  INTUITION 

Be  it  remembered  that  human  Intuition  has  al- 
ways whispered  of  the  existence  of  a  realm  of 
matter  finer  than  the  physical,  and  of  life  and 
intelligence  in  that  realm.  Wherever  men  and 
women  have  been  found,  regardless  of  the  marine 
leagues  or  the  thousands  of  years  which  have  sepa- 
rated them  from  other  men  and  women,  there  has 
also  been  found  some  kind  of  a  belief  in  individual 
existence  after  death ;  which  belief  necessarily  im- 
plies some  kind  of  a  duality  of  matter,  one  phase 
of  which  is  finer  and  more  permanent  than  the 
other.  If  it  be  contended  that  this  belief  might 
have  had  its  origin  in  a  community  from  which  all 
races  and  peoples  are  remotely  descended,  its 
world-wide  persistence  after  the  development  of 
such  widely  divergent  racial  types,  and  after  the 


94  1 ne  Science  of  Religion 

rise  of  so  many  totally  different  languages,  is  no 
less  marvellous  than  the  idea  that  it  has  separately 
sprung  up  in  each  race. 

Sometimes  this  belief  in  the  duality  of  matter 
has  assumed  crude  forms  ;  but  the  important  fact  is 
its  wide-spread  prevalence,  and  not  its  form.  Belief 
in  the  literal  resurrection  of  the  physical  body  is  a 
comparatively  recent  addition  to  belief  in  individ- 
ual existence  after  death,  and  is  merely  an  effort  of 
expanding  reason  to  harmonize  the  whisperings  of 
Intuition  with  the  observable  facts. 

A  SCIENTIFIC  BOGIE 

For  a  long  time  Science  tried  to  frighten  away 
this  intuitional  belief  in  the  duality  of  matter  and 
the  persistence  of  the  finer  body  by  exhibiting  that 
old  bogie  labelled,  "Two  bodies  cannot  occupy  the 
same  space  at  the  same  time."  And  even  yet  that 
same  old  scarecrow,  with  sleeves  now  frayed  and 
disclosing  its  wooden  arms,  with  the  tuft  of  hay 
protruding  from  beneath  its  weather-beaten  hat,  is 
sometimes  pressed  into  service.  How  reluctantly 
do  men  yield  up  their  dogmas  !  And  yet,  frayed 
and  weather-beaten  though  the  old  bogie  may  be, 
and  though  its  pitiful  sham  is  so  apparent,  the  label 
speaks  the  everlasting  and  unalterable  truth. 
Everything  here  depends  upon  our  conception  of 
a  body.  A  bee  and  a  gnat  cannot  occupy  the  same 
space  at  the  same  time,  and  in  that  sense  the  label 
speaks  the  truth ;  but  if  we  consider  a  swarm  of 
flying  bees  as  a  body,  and  likewise  a  swarm  of  flying 


Wide  Open  Doors  95 

gnats,  then  two  bodies  can  occupy  the  same  space 
at  the  same  time,  for  the  two  swarms  can  interblend 
and  fly  along  together  ;  and,  moreover,  a  man  with 
poor  vision  would  be  able  to  see  the  swarm  of  bees, 
but  could  not  see  the  swarm  of  gnats. 

Is  there  really  such  a  realm  of  finer  matter,  the 
smaller  ultimate  particles  of  which  occupy  the 
spaces  between  the  larger  ultimate  particles  of  phys- 
ical matter  ?  We  have  seen  that  the  existence  of 
such  matter  is  entirely  possible.  We  have  also  seen 
that  Intuition  whispers  of  such  a  realm  to  every 
normal  human  being.  Literature  is  replete  with 
legendary  tales  of  such  a  "  fairyland "  and  the 
people  dwelling  there.  Eeligion  rests  upon  belief 
in  such  a  world,  in  which  it  bids  men  and  women 
to  expect  a  righting  of  all  the  unrighted  wrongs  of 
earth,  and  its  own  peculiar  literature,  coming  from 
all  countries  and  all  ages,  abounds  with  recitals  of 
how  men  still  clothed  with  mortal  flesh  have  ra- 
tionally communicated  with  the  living  entities  who 
there  abide.  For  long  these  legends,  creeds,  be- 
liefs and  records,  all  sanctioned  by  the  finer  ele- 
ments and  nobler  impulses  of  humanity,  and  form- 
ing a  part  of  our  conception  of  the  fitness  of  things, 
have  been  confounded  by  the  towering  wall  of 
physical  facts  with  which  an  aggressive  and  con- 
quering Science  has  surrounded  them ;  but  at  last 
the  wall  is  found  to  be  largely  a  mass  of  portals 
through  which  they  pass  unopposed,  while  Science 
stands  agape. 


"HOW  CAN  THESE  THINGS  BE?" 

HAYING  discovered  that  the  existence  of 
super-physical  matter  is  possible,  and  hav- 
ing added  to  that  possibility  a  modicum 
of  inconclusive  evidence,  we  will  now  adopt  the 
existence  of  such  a  realm  of  matter  as  "a  working 
hypothesis,"  and  endeavour  to  correlate  it  with  the 
known  facts. 

INTERPLEADING   BODIES 

Let  us  again  resort  to  the  hypothetical  magnify- 
ing-glass  which  caused  the  stone  paper-weight  to 
appear  larger  than  the  Great  Pyramid,  with  its 
vibrating  atoms  as  large  as  buckshot,  each  separated 
from  all  others  by  distances  comparatively  great ; 
and  let  us  turn  this  glass  towards  the  physical  body 
of  a  man.  We  see  a  giant  form  towering  far  above 
the  clouds,  with  a  girth  greater  than  the  base  of 
Mount  McKinley,  its  various  atoms  ranging  in  size 
about  the  same  as  in  the  stone,  separated  by  about 
the  same  distances,  and  behaving  in  about  the  same 
manner. 

If  this  great  giant  should  meet  another  giant 
constituted  in  like  manner  as  himself,  each  could 
plainly  see  the  bulk  of  the  other  and  descry  the 
general  outlines  of  his  form  and  features,  but 
neither  would  be  able  to  see  the  small  particles  of 

96 


"  How  Can  These  Things  Be  ?  "         97 

which  the  other  is  composed.  They  might  shake 
hands  with  a  firm  and  friendly  grasp,  and  exchange 
comments  on  crop  conditions  or  the  fluctuations  of 
the  stock  market.  Their  hands  would  not  blend 
together,  because  the  atoms  composing  the  one,  be- 
ing of  a  certain  size  and  vibrating  at  a  certain  rate 
within  a  limited  space,  would  resist  the  intrusion  of 
other  atoms  of  the  same  kind ;  and  this  resistance 
would  constitute  the  sense  of  touch. 

But  if  the  first  giant  man,  instead  of  meeting 
another  constituted  as  himself,  should  meet  a  man 
of  the  same  size,  but  built  up  of  particles  no  larger 
than  birdshot,  vibrating  at  a  much  more  rapid  rate 
than  the  larger  particles  in  the  body  of  the  first 
man,  and  each  separated  from  all  others  by  such 
distances  that  a  particle  the  size  of  a  buckshot 
could  pass  between  them  ;  the  giant  composed  of 
the  larger  particles  could  not  see  the  other  at  all. 
And  if  the  different  sized  particles  of  which  their 
respective  bodies  were  composed  should  happen  to 
possess  such  respective  magnetic  and  vibratory 
qualities  that  they  could  inter  blend  and  come  very 
close  together  without  actually  coming  into  con- 
tact, then  the  two  men  could  literally  walk 
through  each  other  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
coarser  man — possibly  without  the  knowledge  of 
either.  If  the  magnetic  attractions  and  vibratory 
agitation  among  the  atoms  of  the  coarser  man 
should  result  in  an  induced  magnetic  field  within 
his  body  which  w^ould  be  attractive  to  the  atoms 
in  the  body  of  the  finer  man,  inducing  the  two 


98  The  Science  of  Religion 

kinds  of  atoms  to  interblend  and  assume  and  main- 
tain certain  relative  positions  without  contact ;  and 
if  under  these  conditions  the  two  men  should  come 
into  contact  with  each  other ;  then  their  bodies  would 
coalesce  and  remain  interblended  as  long  as  the  in- 
duced magnetic  field  should  remain  unimpaired. 

If  the  first  giant  man  here  under  contemplation 
had  grown  up  from  the  first  nucleated  cell  in  a 
realm  containing  both  kinds  of  atoms,  blended  to- 
gether in  all  his  food  and  drink,  then  he  would 
have  been  two  interblending  bodies  at  all  stages  of 
his  existence,  instead  of  one.  And  if  the  finer 
body  be  assumed  to  be  the  more  permanent  of  the 
two,  and  capable  of  a  separate  existence,  then  the 
failure  of  the  coarser  one  to  properly  function 
would  cause  the  induced  magnetic  field  to  break 
down,  and  the  two  bodies  would  separate. 

The  first  giant  man  was  merely  an  ordinary  man 
highly  magnified,  so  as  to  reveal  the  conditions 
existing  in  his  physical  body  as  shown  by  the  ex- 
act findings  of  Science.  The  second  giant  man 
was  merely  the  spiritual  body  of  an  ordinary  man, 
composed  of  finer  particles  than  is  the  physical 
bod}7,  and  intangible  to  the  physical  organs  of  sense. 
The  induced  magnetic  field  in  the  physical  body  is 
a  well  established  fact,  commonly  designated  as 
"animal  magnetism." 

WHY  ELECTRICITY  KILLS 

This  illustration  of  the  two  interblending  men  is 
confidently   submitted    to    such    of  our  scientific 


"  How  Can  These  Things  Be  2  "         99 

friends  as  have  been  patient  enough  to  yet  remain 
with  us.  They  may  not  believe  that  two  bodies 
do  actually  so  interblend,  but  they  will  not  be  able 
to  bring  forward  any  scientific  discovery  which 
even  tends  to  prove  that  such  inter  blending  is  not 
possible.  If  they  can  accept  the  illustration  as 
showing  exact  conditions,  and  if  they  can  realize 
that  the  life  of  the  physical  body  is  dependent 
upon  the  interblending  of  the  spiritual  body,  they 
will  be  able  to  solve  a  mystery  which  has  until 
now  refused  to  be  solved :  they  will  be  able  to  ex- 
plain the  cause  of  death  by  electrocution.  Ever 
since  it  was  learned  that  electricity  kills,  Science 
has  been  vainly  trying  to  find  out  why  and  how  it 
kills.  In  the  body  of  an  electrocuted  man  or  ani- 
mal no  tissue  is  disrupted,  and  no  cell  is  out  of 
place.  If  man  is  really  constituted  in  the  dual 
manner  just  illustrated,  it  is  quite  obvious  that  a 
powerful  current  of  electricity  passing  through  his 
physical  body  would  destroy  the  harmony  and 
constancy  of  the  induced  magnetic  field  which 
binds  the  two  bodies  together,  thus  causing  them 
to  separate  and  resulting  in  the  death  of  the  phys- 
ical body.  In  such  case  the  physical  body  would 
be  just  as  sound  and  perfect  as  ever,  but  its  vivify- 
ing spiritual  body  would  be  gone,  and  with  it 
would  go  the  mind,  soul,  or  consciousness,  leaving 
the  physical  body  to  decay  and  disintegrate.  The 
spiritual  body  would  not  be  affected,  because  the 
electric  current  is  a  physical  force  acting  only  upon 
the  induced  magnetic  field  within  the  physical  body. 


loo  The  Science  of  Religion 

THE  DUALTY  OF  MATTER 

Eetaining  the  hypothesis  of  two  kinds  of  matter 
interblending,  and  adding  to  it  our  conception  of 
a  university  of  law,  we  are  persuaded  that  in  the 
finer  realm  of  matter,  as  in  the  coarser,  there  are 
varying  grades,  degrees  and  stages  of  refinement, 
and  many  different  kinds  of  atoms,  the  material  of 
that  realm  interblending  not  only  with  the  phys- 
ical matter  of  human  bodies,  but  also,  in  its  coarser 
forms,  aggregating  into  interblending  counterparts 
of  all  the  entities  below  the  human  kingdom.  We 
are  also  persuaded  that  in  this  finer  realm  of  mat- 
ter there  is  evolutionary  progress  and  refinement 
keeping  pace  with  the  progress  and  refinement  of 
physical  matter.  We  thus  get  a  conception  of 
matter  in  a  truly  dual  state,  one  state  of  it  com- 
paratively coarse,  the  other  comparatively  fine, 
and  both  interblending  into  a  constantly  evolving 
whole  under  the  influence  of  an  all-pervading  force 
which  is  so  complex  that  it  has  a  wave-length  suited 
to  every  atom  and  molecule  in  both  realms. 

The  moving-picture  machine  has  served  to  bring 
out  with  wonderful  clarity,  and  in  many  variations 
and  shadings,  the  fact  that  men  and  women  every- 
where already  entertain  this  conception  of  two 
interblending  bodies,  notwithstanding  the  failure 
of  Religion  to  explain  it  in  any  rational  way,  and 
notwithstanding  the  dictum  of  Science  that  two 
bodies  cannot  occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same 
time.  One  illustration,  selected  almost  at  random 
from  many  available  ones,  will  be  sufficient.     In  a 


11  How  Can  These  Things  Be  ?  "       101 

motion-picture  dramatization  of  a  well-known  poem, 
the  principal  aotor  reclines,  near  the  end  of  the 
last  scene,  in  an  armchair  in  a  quiet  room.  An 
angel,  through  whose  filmy  form  may  be  seen  the 
tapestry  and  furniture  of  the  room,  enters  and 
beckons  to  the  man  reclining  in  the  chair.  There- 
upon a  likewise  filmy  form  of  the  man  slowly  arises 
from  the  reclining  body  and  goes  away  with  the 
angel,  leaving  the  body  in  the  chair  to  collapse  and 
tumble  to  the  floor. 

The  making  of  such  a  picture  is  a  very  simple 
problem  in  "  trick  photography."  The  room  and 
the  reclining  man  are  first  photographed  in  a  series 
of  "  snap-shots  "  covering  several  yards  of  the  film. 
The  machine  is  then  reversed,  and  the  portion  of 
the  film  which  has  been  subjected  to  these  snap- 
shot exposures  is  wound  back  upon  the  reel,  the 
man  in  the  chair  all  the  while  remaining  in  the  same 
position.  Then  the  machine  is  again  started  for- 
ward, the  "  angel "  enters  and  beckons,  and  the 
man  rises  and  walks  away.  Each  snap-shot  is 
thereby  double-exposed,  and  the  forms  of  the  actors 
moving  around  during  the  time  the  second  expo- 
sures are  being  made  produce  pictures  through 
which  may  be  seen  the  pictures  of  the  room  and 
furniture  taken  at  the  first  exposure.  After  the 
"  spiritual  man  "  and  the  "  angel  "  have  walked 
away  the  machine  is  stopped  and  the  actor  resumes 
his  position  in  the  chair.  Then  the  machine  is  again 
started,  and  the  actor  collapses  and  tumbles  to  the 
floor.     This  complete  film,  when  run  through  the 


102  The  Science  of  Religion 

reproducing  machine,  makes  the  picture  above  de- 
scribed. 

We  are  not  so  much  interested  in  the  technique 
employed  in  the  production  of  these  "  ghost  pic- 
tures," but  we  are  interested  in  the  conception 
which  inspires  people  to  make  such  pictures  in  a 
country  preempted  by  a  religious  system  which, 
while  it  teaches  generally  that  death  does  not  end 
individual  existence,  has  not  been  able  to  rationally 
refute  the  dogma  of  Science  that  two  bodies  cannot 
occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same  time.  Such  a 
conception,  so  generally  entertained,  and  passing 
unchallenged  as  a  matter  of  course,  is  a  powerfully 
persuasive  argument  that,  notwithstanding  the  ref- 
utation of  Science  and  the  inability  of  Eeligion  to 
explain,  men  and  women  nevertheless  intuitively 
know  the  truth. 

If  there  is  indeed  such  a  world  of  finer  matter 
as  has  been  here  hypothesized,  of  which  a  spiritual 
counterpart  of  the  physical  body  is  composed,  the 
two  bodies  blending  together  during  the  life  of  the 
physical  and  separating  at  its  death,  we  may  readily 
realize  that  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  matter  the 
entities  there  manifesting,  while  intangible  to  the 
coarse  physical  organs  of  sense,  are  very  real  and 
very  tangible  to  intelligent  individuals  having 
sense  organs  composed  of  that  finer  matter  and  un- 
clouded by  the  obscuring  veil  of  physical  flesh. 
Therefore,  in  that  realm  we  would  expect  the  fra- 
grance of  flowers  to  be  as  sweet  as  in  the  physical 
realm  ;  we  would  expect  its  scenery  to  be  at  least 


"  How  Can  These  Things  Be  <?  "       103 

as  grand,  and  its  music  as  enrapturing  ;  we  would 
expect  its  friendships  to  be  just  as  strong,  and  its 
hand-clasps  to  be  just  as  firm  and  real ;  and,  what 
is  more,  we  would  expect  love  to  be  just  as  raptur- 
ous and  entrancingly  happy.  All  this  we  would 
expect,  and  a  great  deal  more,  for  it  is  a  finer  and 
better  world  than  the  physical,  particularly  in  the 
realms  of  its  higher  manifestations,  and  free  from 
many  of  the  things  which  make  our  mortal  hearts 
sad  and  hold  us  back  from  the  attainment  of  our 
ideals.  In  such  a  realm,  largely  free  from  the  level- 
ling influences  of  physical  life,  the  men  and  women 
who  are  vicious,  coarse  and  vulgar  would  probably 
find  their  own  place  by  very  reason  of  their  con- 
ditions, so  that  a  great  "  gulf "  would  indeed  be 
fixed  between  them  and  the  righteous.  If  the  con- 
ception of  a  university  of  law  and  evolution  means 
that  these  unfortunate  men  and  women  will  still 
have  an  opportunity  to  better  their  conditions,  then 
such  as  hold  to  the  dogma  of  Eternal  Damnation 
must  either  reject  the  conception,  or  else  limit  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "  eternal "  to  something  less 
than  it  is  generally  understood  to  mean. 

THE  SOUL 

It  has  been  said  in  a  previous  chapter  that  if  the 
conception  of  two  realms  of  matter  interblending 
be  correct,  man  is  two  bodies  instead  of  one.  The 
verb  "is"  was  deliberately  chosen,  because  we 
wTere  then  contemplating  man  in  the  sense  of  his 
two  manifestations.     But  it  is  just  possible  that 


104  The  Science  of  Religion 

the  word  "is"  ought  to  give  place  to  the  word 
"  possesses."  Keligious  literature  abounds  in  the  use 
of  the  word  "  soul " ;  but  it  is  nowhere  said  that 
any  one  has  ever  seen  a  soul,  super-physical  human 
entities  being  always  referred  to  as  "spirits  "or 
"angels."  Modern  writers  have  handled  these 
two  words  rather  carelessly,  often  using  them  in- 
terchangeably ;  but  the  ancient  writers  evidently 
did  not  intend  them  as  synonyms,  as  a  careful  read- 
ing will  abundantly  show.  And,  after  all,  just 
what  is  the  ultimate  ego — the  real  "  I "  which  sits 
somewhere  enthroned  in  every  normal  human  be- 
ing and  exercises  dominion  over  the  activities  of  its 
material  manifestation  ?  Is  it  physical  matter,  or 
a  product  of  physical  matter  ?  If  there  be  a  spiri- 
tual realm,  is  it  matter  of  that  realm,  or  a  product 
of  such  matter  ?  If  we  suppose  that  it  is  a  third 
entity,  essence  or  force,  which  directs  and  controls 
the  physical  body  during  its  interblending  with  the 
spiritual  body,  and  which  continues  to  control  the 
spiritual  body  after  its  separation  from  the  phys- 
ical ;  then  we  have  a  perfect  answer  to  the  defiant 
question  of  Science  as  to  why  there  is  no  remem- 
brance of  what  transpired  during  a  state  of  injury 
to  the  physical  brain.  Here  is  the  answer :  mark 
it  well. 

THE  DEFIANT  QUESTION  ANSWERED 

If  a  spiritual  counterpart  interblends  with  the 
physical  body,  that  counterpart  must  necessarily 
have  eyes  and  ears  and  all  the  other  organs  and 


11  How  Can  These  Things  Be  ?  "       105 

faculties  of  sense  with  which  the  physical  body  is 
endowed,  but  all  composed  of  such  material  and 
keyed  to  such  vibratory  pitch  that  they  probably 
cannot  sense  the  things  of  the  physical  realm. 
Anyway,  the  average  human  being  has  never 
learned  to  exercise  the  organs  and  faculties  of  sense 
belonging  to  the  spiritual  body,  and  the  ultimate 
ego,  soul,  or  mind,  can  acquire  no  information 
through  those  channels,  but  must  depend  upon  the 
sense  organs  and  faculties  of  the  physical  body. 
Therefore,  if  the  physical  brain  be  so  injured  as  to 
cause  it  to  stop  registering  the  sensations  which 
come  in  to  it  from  the  physical  organs  and  facul- 
ties of  sense,  the  soul,  or  mind,  would  be  entirely 
without  means  of  acquiring  information  as  to  what 
occurred  in  the  meantime.  An  illustration  may 
accentuate  this  point.  Suppose  a  certain  man  pos- 
sessed only  the  two  senses  of  sight  and  hearing, 
the  senses  of  taste,  smell  and  touch  being  totally 
lacking ;  and  suppose  that  such  a  man  should  be 
securely  blindfolded,  and  that  his  ears  should  be  so 
tightly  sealed  that  he  could  hear  nothing  at  all. 
Under  these  conditions  opposing  armies  might 
battle  around  him  with  attendant  roar  of  cannon 
and  rattle  of  sabres;  the  finest  orchestra  in  the 
world  might  gather  about  him  and  play  the  most 
enrapturing  music ;  he  might  be  gorged  with 
wormwood  and  with  nectar;  the  surrounding  at- 
mosphere might  be  alternately  charged  with  the 
sweetest  fragrances  and  the  most  disgusting 
stenches ;  both  of  his  legs  might  be  amputated  at 


106  The  Science  of  Religion 

the  hip-joint;  the  earth  might  quake,  and  blind- 
ing lightning  flashes  hurtle  across  the  sky ;  but 
upon  removal  of  the  bandage  from  his  eyes  and 
the  seals  from  his  ears  he  would  remember  abso- 
lutely nothing  of  any  of  these  things.  Now,  kind 
scientific  friends,  if  we  let  the  aggregate  senses  of 
the  physical  body  represent  this  unfortunate  man's 
ears,  and  let  the  aggregate  senses  of  the  spiritual 
body  represent  his  eyes,  your  supposedly  unan- 
swerable question  is  answered.  It  is  not  contem- 
plated that  you  will  say  the  man  lying  blindfolded 
and  with  stopped  ears  could  still  think,  and  that 
he  would  afterwards  remember  his  thoughts ;  be- 
cause your  psychologists  are  committed  to  the 
dictum  that  thought  is  either  a  correlation  of  pres- 
ent things,  or  of  present  things  with  those  of  the 
past  or  future,  and  to  a  man  under  the  conditions 
we  have  supposed  there  wrould  be  no  present  to 
which  the  past  or  future  might  be  related.  He 
would  be  in  exactly  the  same  condition  as  a  hyp- 
notic subject  in  a  state  of  profound  hypnotic 
sleep,  such  sleep  being  merely  the  closing  up  of 
all  the  sense  channels. 

SPIRITUAL  OEGANS  OF  SENSE 

Our  attention  being  called  to  the  obvious  fact 
that  the  spiritual  counterpart  of  the  physical  body, 
if  there  be  such  counterpart,  must  be  equipped 
with  organs  and  faculties  of  sense,  we  get  a  step 
further  along  the  way,  and  face  the  interesting 
question  as  to  whether  or  not  those  organs  and 


u  How  Can  These  Things  Be  <?  "       107 

faculties  of  sense  may  be  trained,  while  still  inter- 
blending  with  the  physical  organs,  to  sense  the 
things  of  the  spiritual  realm.  As  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  the  literature  of  all  religious  systems 
is  replete  with  stories  of  men  and  women  who 
rationally  and  intelligently  communicated  with 
spiritual  beings,  and  some  of  the  greatest  philoso- 
phies and  wisest  laws  in  the  world  are  reputed  to 
have  come  to  us  in  that  way. 

If  we  study  the  characters  of  the  men  and  women 
of  whom  it  is  thus  recorded  that  they  communi- 
cated with  spiritual  beings,  we  find  that  they  were, 
without  exception,  highly  moral  in  their  thoughts 
and  conduct,  and  that  they  had  been  thoroughly 
schooled  in  self-mastery  and  self-discipline.  They 
were  given  to  humility  and  unobtrusiveness,  and 
devoted  themselves  to  study  and  the  unselfish 
service  of  their  fellow  men.  Their  private  lives 
were  pure  and  wholesome,  and  their  public  de- 
meanour was  above  reproach.  We  know  that  the 
living  of  such  a  life  produces  a  condition  of  the  in- 
dividual which  we  designate  as  "  refinement,"  as 
well  as  do  we  know  that  the  living  of  a  selfish  and 
immoral  life  produces  a  personal  condition  which 
we  term  "coarse."  In  other  words,  we  know, 
when  once  we  come  to  think  of  it,  that  compliance 
with  the  active  and  passive  laws  of  morality  pro- 
duces a  condition  of  refinement  and  expansion  of 
the  individual  faculties  and  capacities  ;  whilst  a  vio- 
lation of  those  laws  results  in  the  coarsening  and 
limitation  of  the  individual  faculties  and  capacities. 


108  The  Science  of  Religion 

We  also  know  that  highly  refined  and  intelligent 
people  have  the  faculty  of  intuition  in  a  more 
highly  developed  state  than  do  the  coarse  and  igno- 
rant ;  that  is,  they  are  better  able  to  "  just  know  " 
things,  and  to  "  get  things  out  of  the  air." 

Can  it  be  that,  after  all,  "  intuition  "  is  nothing 
other  than  the  aggregate  of  weak  and  imperfect 
sensations  which  reach  the  soul,  or  mind,  through 
the  almost  latent  and  physically-clouded  organs  of 
sense  of  the  spiritual  body  ?  And  does  a  life  of 
unselfish  morality  quicken  these  perceptions  and 
thin  "the  veil  of  the  flesh"?  And  have  the 
prophets  and  seers  of  history  been  men  who  have 
lived  such  lives  as  to  nurse  these  feeble  sensations 
into  clear  and  rational  perceptions,  thus  enabling 
them  to  receive  a  higher  knowledge  from  the  peo- 
ple of  a  higher  plane  of  life  and  intelligence? 
These  things  are  altogether  within  the  range  of 
possibility,  and  no  scientific  discovery  in  any  way 
tends  to  answer  any  of  these  questions  in  the  nega- 
tive. 

THE  BASIS  OF  MORALITY 
If  the  questions  propounded  in  the  last  preced- 
ing paragraph  may  be  answered  in  the  affirmative, 
then  the  law  and  the  reason  underlying  the  precepts 
of  morality  become  immediately  apparent.  The 
cardinal  "  Thou  shalt  not's  "  forbid  the  doing  of 
things  which  would  coarsen  our  physical  and  spiri- 
tual bodies,  paralyze  our  spiritual  senses,  and  doom 
us  to  evil  influences  and  unhappy  environments; 


"  How  Can  These  Things  Be  ?  "       109 

whilst  the  cardinal  "Thou  shalt's"  enjoin  upon  us 
the  doing  of  those  things  which  will  refine  our 
physical  and  spiritual  bodies,  quicken  our  spiritual 
senses,  and  prepare  us  for  abode  with  the  abun- 
dantly blessed  and  happy.  According  to  this  con- 
ception, the  net  result  of  immorality  is  coarseness 
and  unfitness,  and  the  net  result  of  morality  is  re- 
finement and  fitness.  In  each  instance  the  effects 
are  registered  upon  the  individual  himself,  and  be- 
cause of  those  effects  he  becomes  a  certain  thing, 
fitted  for  a  certain  place  and  certain  conditions  to 
which  he  must  go  because  the  thing  he  has  become 
can  go  to  no  other.  If  he  lives  a  life  of  immoral- 
ity, he  is  sinking  to  a  condition  of  coarseness  and 
unhappiness  from  which  no  angel  wings  can  bear 
him  up ;  and  if  he  lives  a  life  of  morality,  he  is 
rising  to  a  condition  of  light  and  life  and  happiness 
from  which  no  demon  claws  can  drag  him  down. 


XI 
OLD  GEMS  IN  NEW  SETTINGS 

MANY  things  which  have  been  said  in 
previous  chapters  seem  wonderfully  new, 
and  yet  strangely  old.  The  reason  for 
this  paradoxical  seeming  lies  in  the  fact  that  they 
are  but  age-old  and  familiar  beliefs  and  conceptions 
clad  in  the  nomenclature  of  modern  Science.  They 
are  but  old  friends  in  new  attire.  They  are  old 
gems  in  new  settings. 

OLD  TESTAMENT  NARRATIVES 

The  first  chapter  of  the  Bible  tells  the  story  of 
the  earth's  evolution,  and  of  the  appearance  of  the 
various  forms  of  life,  in  just  the  order  that  we 
have  found  these  things  ought  to  have  come  under 
the  refining  influence  of  a  complex  vibratory  force 
playing  upon  matter  from  without.  The  narrative 
is  short  and  simple,  and  devoid  of  scientific  explana- 
tions, but  the  facts  are  all  stated  in  their  proper 
sequence.  As  to  what,  if  anything,  the  writer 
knew  about  the  intricate  workings  of  the  force  un- 
derlying and  producing  the  phenomena  he  so  briefly 
describes,  we  can  only  speculate.  The  remarkable 
thing  is  that,  to  the  limit  he  undertook  to  narrate, 
he  narrated  correctly  the  things  which  Science  has 
required  thousands  of  years  to  work  out  and  verify. 

110 


Old  Gems  in  New  Settings  1 1 1 

If  we  strip  Darwin's  evolutionary  treatises  of 
their  speculations  and  dogmas,  many  of  which 
have  been  proved  fallacious,  and  add  the  First 
Cause  which  he  vainly  sought,  they  are  but  so 
many  enlarged  and  revised  editions  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  Other  religious  writings  than 
the  Bible  contain  similar  narratives,  but  since  this 
book  will  probably  be  confined  in  its  circulation  to 
Christian  countries,  it  is  sufficient  to  merely  note 
this  fact  in  passing  ;  and  for  the  same  reason  such 
further  references  as  may  be  made  to  the  narratives 
of  sacred  writings  will  be  limited  to  the  contents 
of  that  book. 

In  the  nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Bible  it  is  said 
that  super-physical  human  beings  (" angels")  vis- 
ited Lot,  a  man  still  clothed  upon  with  mortal 
flesh,  and  communed  with  him ;  and  thencefor- 
ward to  the  closing  benediction  of  Revelation 
these  super- physical  beings  constantly  pass  to  and 
fro  and  freely  communicate  with  such  mortals  as 
are  prepared  to  receive  their  messages.  If  they 
were  recognized  as  people  who  had  once  possessed 
physical  bodies,  that  fact  was  not  usually  stated, 
but  the  two  such  beings  who  communicated  with 
Jesus  at  His  Transfiguration  were  recognized  by 
Peter,  James  and  John  as  Moses  and  Elias,  both  of 
whom  had  laid  aside  their  physical  bodies  several 
hundred  years  before  that  time.  To  the  extent 
that  this  narrative  of  the  Transfiguration  may  be 
accepted  as  true,  and  it  is  not  intended  here  to 
either  impeach  it  or  vouch  for  it,  it  is  evidence 


112  The  Science  of  Religion 

that  men  possess  spiritual  bodies  which  may,  under 
proper  conditions,  be  seen  and  recognized  by  other 
men  still  clothed  upon  with  physical  flesh. 

In  the  sixth  chapter  of  Second  Kings  appears  the 
story  of  the  expedition  sent  out  by  the  king  of 
Syria  to  capture  the  prophet  Elisha.  The  servant 
of  Elisha,  seeing  that  he  and  his  master  were  sur- 
rounded by  the  Syrians,  was  in  a  panic  of  fear. 
Elisha  was  calm,  and  prayed  thus:  "Jehovah,  I 
pray  thee,  open  his  eyes,  that  he  may  see."  This 
young  man's  physical  eyes  were  probably  already 
very  wide  open.  It  is  also  probable  that  he  was  a 
kind  of  apprentice  to  the  prophet,  and  possibly  a 
student  in  the  u  School  of  the  Prophets "  which 
had  then  recently  erected  a  new  building  in  that 
vicinity.  But  he  had  not  progressed  to  the  point 
of  being  able  to  see  spiritual  things.  However, 
under  the  stress  of  the  circumstances,  and  with 
such  aid  as  the  prophet  could  give  him  through 
prayer  and  otherwise,  "  Jehovah  opened  the  eyes 
of  the  young  man ;  and  he  saw  :  and,  behold,  the 
mountain  was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire 
round  about  Elisha."  That  is,  according  to  the 
working  hypothesis  we  have  adopted,  his  spiritual 
eyes  were  opened,  and  he  saw  the  entities  of  the 
spiritual  realm,  the  glorious  effulgence  of  which 
realm  gave  those  entities  such  an  appearance  that 
to  his  unaccustomed  vision  they  seemed  to  be  "  of 
fire." 

Biblical  narratives  of  communication  between 
super-physical  beings  and  men  in  the  flesh  might 


Old  Gems  in  New  Settings  1 13 

be  cited  by  scores  and  hundreds.  Such  spiritual 
beings  are  usually  referred  to  as  "angels,"  but 
nothing  is  said  of  the  wings  with  which  Poetry 
and  Art  usually  adorn  angels,  and  in  their  commu- 
nications with  men  and  women  in  the  flesh  they 
seem  to  have  been  very  human  and  very  worldly- 
wise.  "  Angel  "  is  a  good  enough  name  for  one  of 
these  beings,  and  another  Biblical  writer  says  of 
the  righteous  that  "their  spirits  are  ministering 
angels."  But  in  the  modern  nomenclature  of  this 
subject  the  word  "  spirit "  is  usually  employed,  and 
conveys  to  the  average  man  and  woman  a  little 
clearer  idea  than  does  the  word  "  angel." 

NEW  TESTAMENT  NARRATIVES 

In  the  New  Testament,  which  is  a  collection  of 
the  most  vital  Christian  literature,  there  appear 
numerous  references  to  the  super-physical  realm 
and  the  conditions  there  obtaining,  culminating  in 
the  kaleidoscopic  visions  and  conceptions  recorded 
in  Revelation.  Paul  intimates  that  he  ascended, 
by  some  unexplained  method,  into  the  "  third 
heaven,"  though  he  did  not  feel  at  liberty  to  tell 
what  he  saw  and  heard  there.  But  if  he  really 
succeeded  in  temporarily  withdrawing  from  his 
physical  body,  and  exploring  some  of  the  mysteries 
of  the  spiritual  realm,  that  experience  may  explain 
how  he  learned  some  of  the  facts  with  which  he 
strove  so  mightily  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  First 
Corinthians  to  make  his  people  understand  the 
very   things   here  and   now   under  consideration. 


114  The  Science  of  Religion 

He  was  discussing  Resurrection,  and  contemplated 
that  some  one  would  ask  what  kind  of  a  body  a 
"  resurrected  "  man  would  have.  He  employed  the 
terminology  and  similies  of  his  time  in  framing  his 
answer,  but  he  made  it  clear  that  the  body  pos- 
sessed by  a  human  being  after  death  is  different  in 
kind  and  degree  from  the  physical  body.  A  few 
of  his  strongest  and  most  forceful  expressions  will 
be  copied  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  succeeding 
paragraph. 

"  And  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not 
the  body  that  shall  be,  but  bare  grain  .  .  ." 
"  All  flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh,  but  there  is  one 
kind  of  flesh  of  men,  another  flesh  of  beasts,  an- 
other of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds.  There  are 
also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial :  but  the 
glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the 
terrestrial  is  another."  "  There  is  a  natural  body, 
and  there  is  a  spiritual  body."  The  last  quoted 
sentence  comes  as  a  climax  to  the  illustrations 
which  immediately  precede  it,  and  exactly  and  in 
terms  states  as  a  fact  the  most  important  hypothe- 
sis herein  adopted.  If  it  be  true  that  each  human 
being  has  two  material  bodies,  one  of  which  per- 
sists indefinitely  as  a  self-conscious  individual  after 
the  disintegration  of  the  other,  that  fact  is  of  more 
vital  importance  to  mankind  than  all  the  other 
facts  of  nature  taken  together.  Be  it  again  re- 
membered that  one  of  the  two  chief  purposes  of 
this  book  is  to  prove,  by  scientific  methods  of  de- 
duction from  facts,  the  possibility  of  such  dual  ex- 


Old  Gems  in  New  Settings  115 

istence.  Having  already  demonstrated  this  possi- 
bility, the  immediately  present  purpose  is  to 
harmonize  it  with  venerable  Christian  records 
and  beliefs,  lest  the  author  be  accused  of  follow- 
ing after  strange  gods  and  propounding  seditions. 
For  this  prime  purpose  are  these  records  and 
beliefs  here  brought  forward,  but  they  are  never- 
theless circumstances  and  testimony  which  cannot 
be  ignored  in  arriving  at  the  final  verdict. 

Sporadic  beliefs  may  be  erroneous,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  a  few  witnesses  to  the  same  point  may  be 
untrue  ;  but  when  the  same  beliefs  are  indigenous 
to  all  lands,  and  persist  through  all  ages,  and  when 
such  beliefs  are  corroborated  by  the  testimony  of 
many  witnesses  coming  from  all  the  far  places  of 
the  earth  in  all  epochs,  and  speaking  all  languages, 
the  burden  of  proof  ought  to  be  upon  him  who 
disputes  them.  Upon  evidence  far  less  conclusive 
we  adjudicate  the  most  important  property  rights 
and  condemn  men  to  death  and  penal  servitude. 
It  is  true  that  living  witnesses  are  not  able  to  give 
any  very  positive  testimony  as  to  the  existence  of  a 
spiritual  realm  and  its  people  ;  but,  as  will  be  more 
particularly  noted  further  along,  the  living  wit- 
nesses come  only  at  certain  stages  and  periods. 

And,  after  all,  we  would  be  in  a  rather  poor 
plight  if  we  knew  nothing  except  what  living  wit- 
nesses could  tell  us.  We  would  know  nothing  about 
King  John  and  the  Great  Charter  ;  nor  about  the 
battles  of  Waterloo  and  Bunker  Hill.  It  is  only 
by  making  records  and  relying  upon  them  that  the 


Ii6  The  Science  of  Religion 

human  race  can  get  ahead.  Sometimes  the  record 
is  false,  but  error  and  falsehood  are  bitter  morsels 
to  human  Intuition,  even  when  they  are  mixed  with 
truth,  and  sooner  or  later  they  are  found  and  elimi- 
nated. 


xn 

GOD  \ 

DARWIN  could  not  complete  his  great 
scheme  of  Evolution  because  he  could  not 
discover  the  "  First  Cause,"  without  which 
he  could  not  account  for  his  ultimates.  Drum- 
mond  tried  to  put  God  into  Evolution,  but  the  in- 
dividual he  conjured  up  possessed  so  many  charac- 
teristics repugnant  to  human  ideas  of  justice  and 
right,  and  the  general  fitness  of  things,  that  he 
never  attained  to  any  marked  degree  of  popularity. 

Several  religious  systems  have  proposed  a  great 
Man-God,  all-wise  and  all-powerful.  One  ancient 
people,  feeling  that  deity  ought  to  combine  the  ag- 
gressive wisdom  and  active  power  of  masculinity 
with  the  gentleness  and  love  of  femininity,  welded 
together  their  father- word  "  Joh  "  and  their  mother- 
word  "  Yah,"  and  used  the  resulting  word  "  Joh- 
vah  "  to  express  their  conception  of  this  duality  ; 
and  this  appellation,  carried  into  Palestine  by  the 
early  settlers  there,  was  modified  into  "  Jehovah  " 
and  used  by  the  Jews  to  designate  their  tribal  god. 

But  none  of  these  efforts  at  personification  have 
been  universally  satisfactory,  it  being  found,  as 
generations  come  and  go,  that  the  alleged  attri- 
butes of  each  of  them  were  strangely  tinged  with 
the  ideas  and  aims,  traits  and  characteristics,  and 

117 


n8  The  Science  of  Religion 

likes  and  dislikes  of  the  people  attempting  them. 
Brahma  was  caste-bound,  Jehovah  was  jealous,  and 
Allah  was  crueL 

King  David  seems  to  have  conceived  and  ex- 
pressed the  idea  of  God  now  generally  accepted  by 
Christianity.  He  said  :  "If  I  take  the  wings  of 
the  morning  and  _fly  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the 
earth,  thou  art  there ;  if  I  ascend  to  heaven,  thou 
art  there ;  and  if  I  make  my  bed  in  hell,  lo,  thou 
art  there."  It  is  clear  that  he  had  in  mind  some 
kind  of  a  Presence  or  Power  which  is  all-embracing 
and  all-pervading.  This  seems  to  be  the  concep- 
tion of  the  enlightened  people  of  all  religions. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  something  very  comforting 
and  intimate  in  the  idea  of  a  great  Man-God  who 
stands  in  the  relation  of  a  loving  father,  ready  to 
heed  the  cries  of  his  children,  and  to  give  them 
succour  and  consolation  in  the  hour  of  their  extrem- 
ity. If  man  shall  ever  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
omnipresent  Power,  he  may  then  hope  to  learn 
whether  or  not  there  is  within  or  behind  the  Power 
a  Personality  which  fills  the  place  of  the  loving 
father,  but  in  the  present  state  of  human  knowledge 
speculation  in  that  realm  is  altogether  useless.  We 
are  prone  to  speculate  as  to  what  lies  behind  the 
things  which  we  must  accept  as  ultimates  ;  but  our 
present  duty  is  to  learn  more  about  the  laws,  hoping 
that  some  time  we  may  know  the  Lawgiver. 

The  greatness  of  the  subject,  and  the  paucity  of 
human  knowledge  concerning  it,  thus  invite  specu- 
lation ;  but  we  are  here  considering  the  great  Uni- 


God 


119 


versal  Intelligent  Force  which  has  effected  the 
earth's  evolution  from  gaseous  incandescence  unto 
its  present  state  of  teeming  life  and  intelligence. 

THE  CREATOR 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  the  controversy  between 
Science  and  Eeligion,  the  former  found  much  fault 
with  the  statement  that  "  God  made  the  world  " ; 
because  it  had  become  apparent  that  the  world  was 
formed  by  force  acting  in  or  upon  matter,  and  that 
it  could  not  have  been  actually  constructed  by  any 
individual.  But  we  have  seen  that  the  earth  was 
evolved  through  the  operation  of  a  complex  vibra- 
tory force  playing  upon  its  ultimate  particles  from 
without.  We  have  seen  that  this  complex  force 
produced  in  the  entities  of  physical  matter  a  peculiar 
trait  which  impelled  each  one  of  them  to  seek  a  har- 
monious mating  with  another  similar  entity  of  oppo- 
site polarity.  We  found  that  in  the  mineral  world 
this  trait  causes  the  positive  and  negative  atoms  to 
group  into  compound  entities  incapable  of  further 
growth.  Eesponse  to  shorter  waves  of  this  force 
caused  the  atoms  to  group  into  more  complex  enti- 
ties in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  which  entities  were 
capable  of  growth  and  reproduction.  And,  tracing 
the  ascending  scale  of  complexity  and  refinement, 
we  came  at  last  to  Man  and  Woman.  When  we 
had  reached  these  two  final  products,  we  found 
that  they,  too,  responded  to  the  great  force  which 
impelled  the  atoms  to  mate,  and  that  they  sought 
the  fulfillment  of  their  highest  destiny,  and  the 


120  The  Science  of  Religion 

attainment  of  their  greatest  happiness,  in  a  har- 
monious mating ;  the  force  having  manifested  a 
degree  in  them  which  is  known  as  "  Love."  We 
thus  lay  bare  the  amazing  fact  that  the  all-pervad- 
ing, all-embracing  Force  described  by  King  David 
wrought  out  the  world  and  everything  in  it,  and 
that  in  the  human  kingdom  it  is  called  "Love." 
Therefore,  Love  is  God.  And  "  God  is  Love,"  just 
as  the  New  Testament  has  so  tritely  informed  us 
all  the  while. 

We  have  proceeded  upon  the  theory  that  this  all- 
pervading,  all-impelling  Force  moves  in  the  form  of 
waves  through  the  all-pervading  ether.  We  also 
know,  as  a  matter  of  common  scientific  knowledge, 
that  the  ether  is  capable  of  being  locally  agitated 
into  many  other  wave-lengths,  and  that  certain 
local  waves  manifest  to  our  physical  eyes  as  "  light." 
The  light  of  a  sun  would  be  comparatively  "  local," 
when  considered  in  relation  to  the  immensity  of 
space. 

Now,  let  us  suppose  that  the  eyes  of  a  man's 
spiritual  body  may  be  so  refined  that  they  can  co- 
ordinate with  the  all-pervading  force-waves  which 
are  shorter  than  the  waves  which  the  physical  eyes 
sense  as  light.  The  result  would  be  that,  for  the 
possessor  of  such  eyes,  the  whole  universe  would  be 
ablaze  with  glorious  light,  independent  of  sun,  moon 
or  stars.  A  spiritual  body  with  eyes  coarsened  and? 
benumbed  by  immorality  would  indeed  be  in  outer 
darkness,  notwithstanding  this  glorious  effulgence, 
for  he  would  be  unable  to  see  it. 


God  121 

John  the  Kevelator,  in  the  course  of  his  descrip- 
tion of  that  wonderful  city  which  is  to  be  the  abode 
of  the  righteous,  says :  "  And  the  city  had  no  need 
of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon,  to  shine  in  it :  for 
the  glory  of  God  did  lighten  it.  .  .  ."  Elisha's 
servant  saw  such  a  blaze  of  light  among  the  moun- 
tains round  about  Dothan  that  the  spiritual  horses 
and  chariots  moving  in  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  of 
fire.  A  fierce  white  light,  far  exceeding  the  bright- 
ness of  the  noonday,  flooded  the  scene  of  the  Trans- 
figuration. The  angel  who  appeared  at  the  sepul- 
chre of  Jesus  is  alleged  to  have  had  "  a  countenance 
like  lightning."  Saul  was  confronted  at  the  gate 
of  Damascus  with  a  super-physical  light  which  un- 
horsed him  and  left  him  blind. 

God  is  Force ;  and  Force  is  Light,  and  Life,  and 
Love.  "Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they 
shall  see  God  "  ;  but  woe  is  in  store  for  the  wicked 
and  immoral,  for  they  are  doomed  to  darkness. 

The  end  of  our  reasoning  thus  brings  us  to  the 
three  great  Ultimates — Force,  Matter  and  Intelli- 
gence. We  are  not  able  even  to  intelligently  specu- 
late as  to  their  beginnings.  They  are  factors  in  the 
last  equation  we  can  reach. 


XIII 
THE  ECLIPSE 

IF  force  acting  upon  matter  has  tended  to  con- 
stantly refine  men  and  women  and  bring  them 
into  closer  touch  with  the  spiritual  realm,  and 
if  the  religious  records  of  past  ages  are  worthy  to 
be  considered  as  even  circumstances  in  trying  the 
great  issue  at  bar,  why  is  it  that  rational  communi- 
cation between  the  physical  and  spiritual  realms  is 
no  longer  accomplished  ? 

There  be  those  who  deny  that  such  rational  com- 
munication between  the  two  realms  has  ever  en- 
tirely ceased  ;  but  we  will  assume  that  it  has,  there 
being  no  proof  which  meets  the  rigid  scientific  and 
philosophical  tests  to  which  we  are  here  submitting 
all  other  evidence. 

PERIODICITY 
In  order  to  intelligently  answer  this  rather  em- 
barrassing question,  it  is  necessary  to  briefly  notice 
the  Law  of  Periodicity,  this  law  being  another  ulti- 
mate fact  of  nature  which  man  has  never  been  able 
to  fully  understand.  Everything  in  nature  occurs 
in  remarkable  series  of  undulations,  with  accom- 
panying crests  and  troughs.  So  moves  the  surface 
of  the  ocean,  and  so  also  move  the  "high"  and 

122 


The  Eclipse  123 

"  low  "  atmospheric  pressures  which  produce  chang- 
ing   weather   conditions.     The   "high  pressures" 
which  the  weatherman  mentions  in  his  daily  re- 
ports are  merely  high  waves  in  the  atmosphere, 
moving  from  west  to  east  and  resulting  in  clear, 
cool    weather.      The    "low    pressures"    are    but 
troughs   between  the   "highs,"   and   bring   warm 
weather  and  rain.     A  season  of  drought  is  followed 
by  a  season  of  excessive  rain.     A  period  of  unsea- 
sonably warm  weather  is  followed  by  abnormally 
low  temperatures.     "  Fat  years  "  and  "  lean  years," 
in  the  matter  of  crop  production,  alternate  with 
remarkable  regularity.      Prosperity  and  business 
stagnation  come  alternately,  and  in  spite  of  all 
efforts  to  create  a  condition  of  stability.     Public 
unrighteousness  runs  rife  for  a  while,  and  then  a 
reform  wave  "cleans  house."     Great  civilizations 
rise  and  flourish  for  a  time,  and  then  men  sack 
their  cities,  burn  their  public  buildings,  and  put 
their  fellows  to  the  sword.     These  are  only  a  few 
striking  examples  of  the  great  Law  which  manifests 
everywhere. 

ANCIENT  CIVILIZATIONS 

From  the  high  tide  of  a  wonderful  civilization 
which  flourished  in  Egypt  long  before  the  Israelites 
went  there,  came  the  web  and  woof  of  many  of  the 
world's  religious  teachings,  but  that  civilization  col- 
lapsed and  its  sages  and  seers  perished  from  the 
earth.  Babylon  reached  a  high  state  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  produced  a  religious  literature  in  many 


124  The  Science  of  Religion 

respects  strikingly  similar  to  the  literature  of 
Judaism  and  Christianity;  but  Babylon  perished, 
and  with  it  the  "  sorcerers  "  and  "  soothsayers " 
who  gave  it  moral  strength  and  spiritual  wisdom. 
Palestine  produced  a  magnificent  civilization  which 
built  cities,  founded  colleges,  promulgated  a  code 
of  laws  which  must  always  inspire  wonder  and  ad- 
miration, and  gave  the  world  a  store  of  spiritual 
wisdom  which  was  so  bounteous  that  we  of  this 
present  civilization  cannot  estimate  it  nor  compre- 
hend it.  But  this  great  Jewish  civilization  per- 
ished also,  with  its  magnificent  capital  and  its  won- 
derful temple,  and  its  prophets,  priests  and  apostles 
shared  its  fate. 

Other  instances  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  great  civ- 
ilizations might  be  cited  to  the  point  of  tediousness, 
some  of  them  in  a  past  so  remote  that  nothing  is 
known  of  their  history,  but  the  few  cited  instances 
furnish  sufficient  illustration  for  the  present  pur- 
pose. Always  at  the  "  peak  "  of  those  great  civ- 
ilizations came  the  illumination  of  spiritual  knowl- 
edge and  achievement,  the  records  of  which  have 
inspired  faith,  sustained  hope,  and  stimulated  mo- 
rality during  the  "  dark  ages  "  which  intervened. 
In  each  instance  of  which  we  have  any  record  there 
was  first  built  up  a  magnificent  physical  civiliza- 
tion, and  then  spiritual  knowledge  and  illumination 
came  as  the  very  flower  and  fruit  of  it.  The  great 
prophets  and  epoch-makers  of  Eeligion  came  into 
the  midst  of  great  cities  full  of  learning  and  litera- 
ture and  embellished  by  art  and  architecture.    They 


The  Eclipse  125 

were  often  driven  forth  from  those  cities,  and 
forced  to  abide  in  desert  places,  but  they  have  not 
appeared  during  the  periods  given  over  to  savagery 
and  barbarism. 

PRESENT  CIVILIZATION 

All  this  may  seem  a  rather  gloomy  picture  ;  and 
so  it  really  is.  As  we  look  back  upon  the  ruins  of 
those  civilizations  which  accomplished  so  much,  and 
promised  so  much  more,  we  may  well  pause  and 
soberly  ask :  "  Is  our  present  civilization  but  an- 
other rising  crest,  beyond  which  lies  a  trough  of 
barbarism?"  No  man  knows  the  answer.  But 
we  do  know  that  man  is  able,  through  the  exercise 
of  will,  reason  and  choice,  to  adapt  himself  to  na- 
ture's laws  and  make  them  to  conserve  and  advance 
his  interests.  His  peculiar  faculties,  capacities  and 
powers  constitute  him  very  largely  a  law  unto  him- 
self, and  enable  him  to  so  direct  and  apply  natural 
laws  and  forces  in  his  own  being  and  affairs  that 
they  shall  make  for  construction  instead  of  destruc- 
tion. When  we  look  to  the  causes  of  the  decay  of 
dead  civilizations  we  find  those  causes  springing  up 
in  the  lives  and  inherent  natures  of  men  and 
women.  We  also  know  that  each  succeeding  civ- 
ilization has  been  better  than  the  one  immediately 
preceding  it,  especially  in  the  matter  of  man's 
ability  to  understand  and  apply  natural  laws  and 
forces.  It  is  also  notable  that  past  civilizations 
have  sprung  up  in  isolated  places,  whereas  the 
present  rising  civilization  is  practically  world-wide. 


126  The  Science  of  Religion 

In  the  past,  disintegration  has  had  its  inception  in 
materialism,  greed  and  immorality  within,  but  the 
final  destruction  came  at  the  hands  of  vandals 
and  barbarians  from  without.  Such  denoueTnent  is 
scarcely  within  the  range  of  possibility  at  this  time, 
unless  it  can  be  conceived  that  the  nations  may 
drop  back  into  barbarism  one  by  one,  because  of 
internecine  conditions,  until  finally  their  hosts  will 
be  able  to  overrun  the  remaining  civilized  nations. 
Whether  or  not  this  latter  contingency  shall  hap- 
pen depends  upon  the  manner  in  which  Eeligion 
shall  meet  the  "materialistic"  tendencies  which 
have  come  into  the  present  civilization  at  an  earlier 
stage  than  in  any  preceding  one. 

These  last  few  words  may  produce  shock,  and 
arouse  resentment:  because  we  of  this  age  are 
prone  to  think  that  our  civilization  is  quite  mature, 
and  that  it  has  already  advanced  to  a  point  never 
attained  by  any  of  its  predecessors.  As  to  its  age, 
it  is  quite  young.  Since  the  collapse  of  the  con- 
temporaneous Eoman,  Grecian  and  Jewish  civili- 
zations, there  has  been  such  a  "  falling  away,"  such 
a  lapse  into  ignorance  and  semi-barbarism,  that  we 
are  more  familiar  with  the  people  and  customs  of 
those  ancient  civilizations  than  with  the  people  and 
customs  of  twelve  hundred  years  ago.  Since  Plato 
philosophized,  and  Cicero  orated,  and  Paul 
preached,  there  has  been  such  a  lapse  into  dark- 
ness that  letters  and  art  and  Eeligion  all  but  per- 
ished from  the  earth. 

As  to  maturity  and  advancement,  it  is  true  that 


The  Eclipse  127 

in  point  of  physical  achievement  we  have  made 
unprecedented  progress.  Our  inventions  and  our 
mechanical  control  of  the  forces  of  nature  far  ex- 
ceed the  similar  attainments  of  any  previous  civili- 
zation. Our  attention  has  been  centered  upon 
these  things  of  the  physical  realm.  Our  aim  has 
been  physical  attainment,  and  here  our  talents 
have  been  spent  in  sharp  rivalries.  Our  science  is 
physical  science.  And  our  philosophy  clusters 
about  physical  things.  If  Intuition  has  whispered 
of  a  finer  realm  of  life  and  intelligence,  Eeason 
has  stopped  its  ears  and  run  away  to  build  a  steam- 
ship, conquer  a  disease,  erect  a  wireless  telegraph 
station,  or  draw  plans  for  a  tunnel  or  a  canal. 
This  is  an  age  demanding  facts,  and  exercising 
reason.  The  danger  is  that  all  the  facts  may  not 
be  forthcoming,  and  that  reason  will  run  amuck  in 
the  physical  realm. 

This  physical  achievement  is  not  to  be  depre- 
cated. It  has  paved  the  way  for  a  grander  civili- 
zation than  the  world  has  ever  known.  Our  in- 
ventions and  discoveries  have  bound  all  peoples 
together  with  bonds  of  common  interest  and  sym- 
pathy, and  have  made  the  world  a  vastly  better 
place  to  live  in.  The  rising  wave  is  broader  than 
any  which  has  preceded  it,  and  the  breezes  of 
heaven  blow  fair  upon  it.  How  more  glorious 
ought  it  to  be  when  at  last  it  shall  have  attained 
its  highest  crest  and  broken  into  the  rainbow-spray 
of  spiritual  light  and  knowledge  ! 

But  our  attention  has  been  so  centered  upon  the 


128  The  Science  of  Religion 

physical  plane  that  our  higher  faculties  and  per- 
ceptions have  not  kept  pace  with  our  physical 
achievements.  Under  these  conditions  we  are  in 
danger  of  concluding  that  the  physical  is  every- 
thing, and  that  such  phenomena  as  seem  to  be 
apart  from  it  must  be  merely  its  properties.  We 
are  liable  to  assume  the  attitude  of  a  man  under  a 
hogshead,  looking  out  through  a  knot-hole  and 
affirming  that  he  sees  the  whole  universe.  A 
realization  of  this  danger  inspires  the  writing  of 
this  book. 

Our  civilization  is  indeed  great,  though  young. 
It  is  very  far  advanced,  but  its  advancement  is 
along  physical  lines.  It  has  contributed  practically 
nothing  to  the  world's  store  of  spiritual  knowledge. 
Nature's  evolutionary  processes  are  gradually  re- 
lining  men  and  women  towards  the  point  at  which 
they  may  be  able  to  push  aside  the  veil  which  sep- 
arates the  physical  and  spiritual  realms,  and  to 
thus  obtain  spiritual  information  first-hand ;  but  at 
present  all  their  spiritual  knowledge  is  drawn  from 
a  dead  past  and  a  vanished  civilization,  and  their 
faith  in  its  correctness  is  vivified  into  a  semblance 
of  life  only  by  their  insistent  intuitions.  It  will 
probably  require  many  thousands  of  years  for  the 
rank  and  file  of  humanity  to  reach  the  ideal,  be- 
cause Nature  has  all  the  time  there  is,  and  seems 
to  be  in  no  hurry  with  its  work ;  but  our  Moseses, 
and  Elishas,  and  Pauls,  and  Johns,  seem  to  be 
about  due,  and  unless  the  gathering  strength  of 
our  intuitions  and  moral  standards  shall  quail  be- 


The  Eclipse  129 

fore  the  frowning  heights  of  scientific  "  Material- 
ism," we  will  probably  soon  begin  a  spiritual  ad- 
vancement which  will  be  no  less  marvellous  than 
have  been  our  physical  conquests. 

All  through  the  last  several  paragraphs  such  of 
our  scientific  friends  as  have  been  good  enough  to 
come  with  us  this  far  have  probably  been  object- 
ing that  the  question  with  which  this  chapter 
opens  is  not  being  answered,  and  that  all  these 
risings  and  fallings  of  civilization  do  not  harmonize 
with  the  fundamental  postulate  that  all  evolution- 
ary advancement  is  the  result  of  a  constant  vibra- 
tory force,  the  impulse  of  which  is  ever  onward 
and  upward.  The  chapter  will  be  closed  with  an 
effort  to  answer  these  objections. 

IMMORALITY 

We  have  already  noted  that  human  refinement 
depends  very  largely  upon  morality,  and  that  im- 
morality coarsens,  degrades  and  destroys.  The 
word  "  morality,"  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  here 
used,  includes  more  than  the  ordinary  definition  of 
that  term.  It  means  something  more  than  a 
mere  mechanical  doing  of  certain  things,  and  re- 
fraining from  others.  It  includes  right  living, 
right  action,  right  thinking,  and  a  right  attitude  of 
mind,  all  wrought  out  under  self-discipline  and 
self-control  in  the  light  of  our  highest  knowledge 
and  in  response  to  the  noblest  promptings  of  our 
intuitions.  This  subject  will  be  treated  more  fully 
in   a  subsequent  chapter  devoted  to  it,  but  it  is 


130  The  Science  of  Religion 

needful  that  we  here  somewhat  anticipate  the  sub- 
ject-matter of  that  chapter,  to  the  extent,  at  least, 
of  stating  some  of  the  general  principles  involved. 

Man  rightly  concludes  and  proudly  boasts  that 
he  is  a  "  free  moral  agent."  The  addition  to  him 
of  the  purely  human  faculties,  capacities  and 
powers  makes  him  such.  The  constant  vibratory 
force  in  nature  does  indeed  impel  to  constant  prog- 
ress onward  and  upward,  and  in  all  the  rounds  of 
life  below  man  there  is  automatic  response  to  this 
impelling  force ;  but  unto  man  it  is  given  to  either 
cooperate  or  violate,  and  the  results  of  his  viola- 
tion are  coarsening  and  retrogression  towards  the 
animal  plane.  Violation  becoming  nation-wide  re- 
sults in  national  coarsening  and  stagnation,  and  civ- 
ilizations thus  decay. 

Just  why  man  has  been  constituted  a  free  moral 
agent  is  another  mystery  which  he  has  not  yet 
solved  ;  but  that  he  is  such,  and  that  by  exercising 
his  power  of  will  and  faculties  of  choice  and  reason 
he  may  become  largely  the  master  of  his  own  des- 
tiny, there  is  no  room  for  doubt.  When  Nature 
had  evolved  an  individual  to  the  estate  of  man,  it 
gave  him  certain  faculties,  capacities  and  powers 
which  it  had  not  given  to  any  other,  and  then  took 
him  into  partnership.  Whether  he  will  be  faithful 
to  the  trust  and  reap  the  benefits  of  the  partner- 
ship, or  whether  he  will  be  unfaithful  and  incur  the 
penalties  reserved  for  defaulters,  is  a  matter  which 
rests  with  him.  The  impelling  vibratory  force  still 
plays  upon  him,  but  the  very  faculties,  capacities 


The  Eclipse  13 1 

and  powers  which  make  him  man  enable  him  to  so 
coarsen  and  degrade  his  individual  being  that  it 
will  no  longer  respond  to  the  higher  phases  of  that 
force. 

THE  WAGES   OF  SIN 

The  wages  of  sin  is  death,  and  nations  meet  their 
pay-days  just  as  surely  as  do  individuals. 

In  just  what  mechanical  way  immorality  works 
the  coarsening  and  devolution  of  the  individual 
has  been  a  subject  of  considerable  speculation 
which  has  not  added  much  to  the  world's  store  of 
exact  knowledge.  Still  holding  to  the  fundamental 
hypothesis  that  all  growth,  development  and  re- 
finement are  the  results  of  a  vibratory  force  play- 
ing upon  matter  ;  and  accepting  the  dictum  of  the 
scientists  that  thought  is  itself  a  kind  of  force  ca- 
pable of  being  transmitted  along  the  nerves  to  every 
fibre  and  cell  of  the  body ;  it  may  be  reasonably 
and  logically  concluded  that  this  thought-force  is  a 
vibratory  force,  and  that  its  intensity  and  wave- 
lengths may  vary  with  the  varying  kinds  and  de- 
grees of  thought.  In  that  event,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  imagine  that  such  mental  conditions  as  greed, 
hate,  lust,  fear,  and  "  guilty  conscience,"  may  send 
through  the  individual  being  a  local  vibratory  force 
which  is  discordant  to  the  constructive  force 
which  comes  from  without.  Nor  is  it  difficult  to 
imagine  that  such  mental  states  as  reverence,  purity 
of  thought,  forgiveness,  kindness,  benevolence,  love, 
and  "clear  conscience,"   produce  local  vibratory 


132  The  Science  of  Religion 

forces  which  harmonize  with  the  force  coming  from 
without.  If  this  hypothesis  truly  accounts  for  the 
phenomena  produced  by  morality  and  immorality, 
then  the  individual  whose  mental  states  are  of  the 
last  enumerated  kinds  is  literally  "  in  tune  with  the 
Infinite,"  while  the  individual  whose  mental  states 
are  of  the  first  enumerated  kind  is  very  largely  a 
discordant  law  unto  himself,  the  local  discord  in  his 
own  being  tending  to  defeat  the  operation  of  the 
general  evolutionary  force,  resulting  in  a  coarsening 
of  both  his  physical  and  spiritual  bodies,  and  work- 
ing a  gradual  devolution  downward  from  the  high 
estate  of  man.  If  these  things  be  true,  then  it  is 
also  literally  true  that  "  As  a  man  thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he." 

A  nation  of  right-living  and  right-thinking  in- 
dividuals waxes  strong  and  wise  and  great ;  while 
a  nation  of  wrong-living  and  wrong-thinking  in- 
dividuals doubles  back  upon  the  evolutionary  way, 
and  descends  to  the  level  which  harmonizes  with 
its  moral  standards.  In  this  descending  process  the 
environments  which  have  produced  moral  degener- 
acy disappear.  The  pomp  and  splendour  of  wealth 
are  dissipated,  and  with  them  vanish  the  many 
foibles  and  temptations  which  they  entail.  Igno- 
rance displaces  intellectual  vanity,  greed  for  a  surfeit 
of  physical  things  gives  place  to  struggle  for  frugal 
existence,  and  the  levelling  influence  of  common  ad- 
versity binds  men  and  women  together  with  natural 
ties  of  sympathy,  mutual  understanding,  fraternity 
and  love.    And  so  at  last  the  remnants  of  the  nation 


The  Eclipse  133 

"  get  back  to  nature,"  and  begin  the  task  of  build- 
ing all  over  again. 

THE  DUTY   OF   RELIGION* 

Applying  these  great  laws  and  principles  to  pres- 
ent conditions,  the  duty  of  Religion  becomes  immedi- 
ately apparent,  and  it  also  readily  appears  that  the 
future  of  present  civilization  depends  upon  the 
manner  in  which  it  shall  perform  that  duty.  We 
have  already  sensed  the  danger  that  the  present 
tendency  to  concentrate  upon  physical  achievement, 
and  to  doubt  or  deny  the  existence  of  any  real- 
ity above  and  beyond  the  physical,  may,  unless 
promptly  and  efficiently  met,  invoke  devolution  be- 
fore the  rising  civilization  attains  to  the  spiritual 
knowledge  and  illumination  which  have  come  at 
the  high  crest  of  previous  ones.  Such  an  untimely 
end  is  not  altogether  without  precedent :  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome  furnish  fair  examples.  It  is  true, 
as  has  been  already  stated,  that  our  physical 
achievements  are  without  precedent,  in  both  rapid- 
ity and  magnitude,  and  it  may  be  that  the  pres- 
ent civilization  shall  become  for  all  time  an  exam- 
ple of  the  folly  of  trying  to  build  in  God-forget  ful- 
ness and  spiritual  darkness. 

The  exigency  cannot  be  met  by  a  quibbling  over 
creeds  among  the  mentally  undersized.  The  call  is 
for  strong  men  and  women,  armed  to  meet  a  mighty 
and  aggressive  foe.  There  is  no  lack  of  such  men 
and  women,  and  if  they  were  furnished  with  the 
proper   equipment  they   would  gladly  volunteer. 


134  The  Science  of  Religion 

But  they  cannot  turn  the  steel  bayonet  facts  of 
Science  with  bare  hands  and  the  flimsy  armour  of 
Faith  and  Intuition.  Singing  "  Onward  Christian 
Soldiers  "  stirs  the  martial  spirit,  but  the  soldiers 
ought  to  be  armed  with  modern  weapons.  Bayo- 
nets must  be  opposed  with  bayonets.  Our  churches, 
colleges  and  seminaries  must  meet  the  challenge  of 
Science  by  rationally  demonstrating  that  none  of 
its  discoveries  conflict  with  the  cardinal  religious 
beliefs,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  many  of  them 
are  incontrovertibly  corroborative  of  those  beliefs. 
Only  arm  our  educated  young  men  and  young 
women  with  the  actual  facts,  exposing  the  palpable 
shams ;  give  them  a  rational  and  intelligent  reason 
for  their  faith  ;  and  they  will  go  forth  a  mighty 
conquering  host  to  save  civilization  from  the  danger 
which  threatens  it,  and  to  bring  the  world  into 
spiritual  light  and  a  knowledge  of  God.  Once  let 
them  understand  the  real  truth  of  the  duality  of 
matter  and  the  actual  existence  of  the  spiritual 
realm ;  teach  them  the  principles  of  scientific  and 
evolutionary  morality,  and  why  immorality  coarsens 
and  destroys;  and  there  will  arise  among  them 
prophets  and  seers  who  will  lead  the  nations  into 
the  Light. 


XIV 
LOOKING  FORWARD 

CIVILIZATIONS  which  have  preceded  the 
present  one  seem  to  have  made  but  little 
use  of  the  forces  of  nature.  They  hewed 
stone,  dressed  wood,  hammered  metal,  dug  canals, 
and  built  cities.  But  practically  all  of  this  was 
accomplished  by  manual  labour.  There  were  a 
few  crude  mills  turned  by  water,  and  possibly  here 
and  there  a  windmill.  Petroleum  and  its  products 
were  unknown.  There  was  no  knowledge  of  the 
power  and  uses  of  steam.  Explosives  were  not 
used,  and  electricity  was  undiscovered. 

STEAM  AND  ELECTEICITY 

This  ignorance  of  the  hidden  forces  conditioned 
civilization  to  small  areas,  because  transportation 
and  communication  were  difficult  and  tedious.  Our 
civilization  has  excelled  its  predecessors  largely 
through  utilization  of  two  things  which  they  did 
not  utilize— steam  and  electricity.  Take  away 
these  two  great  forces,  and  the  things  which  have 
grown  out  of  their  use,  and  present  civilization 
would  be  flattered  by  comparison  with  any  one  of 
several  which  long  since  collapsed. 

Let  us  examine  these  two  great  forces,  and 
135 


136  The  Science  of  Religion 

ascertain,  if  we  may,  just  where  they  belong  in  a 
general  plan  of  evolutionary  development  and 
growth  through  the  impelling  influence  of  force 
upon  matter.  It  may  be  that  in  the  use  of  these 
things  man  has  merely  learned  a  little  more  about 
manipulating  vibratory  force;  and  if  this  should 
turn  out  to  be  true,  it  would  inspire  us  to  wonder 
just  what  may  be  accomplished  when  it  shall  be 
generally  realized  that  all  force,  all  motion,  all 
growth,  all  life,  and  all  chemical  change,  are  but 
so  many  phenomena  of  different  ethereal  wave- 
lengths. The  simple  suggestion  here  made  comes 
like  an  unexpected  blaze  of  light  in  the  dark,  and 
staggers  credulity.  Until  now  our  scientific  in- 
vestigations have  not  been  conducted  upon  any 
such  theory,  and,  as  a  consequence,  nearly  all  of 
our  great  discoveries  have  been  made  by  accident. 

We  have  already  found  that  water  represents 
merely  a  harmonic  mating  of  the  atoms  of  oxygen 
and  hydrogen  through  the  response  of  those  atoms 
to  the  longer  waves  of  a  force  which  tends  to 
organize  and  integrate  all  the  atoms.  This  mating 
changed  the  aggregate  form  of  the  atoms  from  gas 
to  liquid,  and  greatly  reduced  their  aggregate  bulk. 
We  have  also  seen  that  the  all-pervading  ether 
may  be  locally  agitated  into  wave-lengths  different 
from  those  which  constantly  move  through  it,  and 
that  heat  is  one  form  of  such  agitation.  Now, 
when  water  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  heat-waves 
at  the  amplitude  of  about  212°  F.,  these  waves  tend 
to  nullify  and  defeat  the  harmonizing  influence  of 


Looking  Forward  137 

the  omnipresent  ether-waves,  and  the  component 
particles  of  the  water  incline  to  resume  their 
gaseous  condition.  But  at  ordinary  temperatures 
the  disrupting  influence  of  the  heat-waves  is  not 
strong  enough  to  cause  the  atoms  to  entirely  fly 
apart.  However,  at  boiling  temperature  the  next 
larger  entities,  composed  of  groups  of  atoms  and 
called  "molecules,"  do  become  very  antagonistic  to 
each  other,  and  urgently  insist  upon  moving  to 
comparatively  great  distances  apart.  This  produces 
"  steam,"  and  the  pushing  force  of  the  molecules  in 
their  efforts  to  separate  is  the  basis  of  its  power. 
We  all  know  that  this  power  is  used  to  run  great 
mills  and  factories,  to  propel  trains  about  the 
country,  and  to  push  ships  across  the  ocean.  In 
their  efforts  to  move  away  from  each  other  these 
molecules  sometimes  burst  a  steel  boiler,  or  explode 
a  mountain. 

It  thus  appears  that  in  utilizing  the  power  of 
steam  man  merely  manipulates  the  longer  and 
more  sluggish  of  the  universal  force-waves  which 
first  reached  coordination  with  mineral  matter. 

And  what  is  electricity  ?  We  do  not  know  ex- 
actly. It  may  be  merely  a  certain  kind  of  force- 
waves  moving  among  the  atoms  and  molecules  of 
its  various  conductors,  but  some  scientists  are  in- 
clined to  believe  that  it  is  a  very  fine  bi-atomic 
form  of  physical  matter,  universally  existing  in  a 
latent  state,  and  which  may  be  set  in  motion  by 
batteries  or  generators.  This  latter  idea  seriously 
antagonizes  the  dogma  of  Science  that  there  is  no 


138  The  Science  of  Religion 

matter  above  and  beyond  the  ordinary  physical 
matter  which  we  ordinarily  perceive,  and  illustrates 
one  phase  of  the  strange  inconsistency  into  which 
that  dogma  is  forcing  the  men  who  hold  that  there 
is  nothing  beyond  the  physical. 

Whatever  electricity  may  be  in  its  very  essence, 
we  know  that  it  is  closely  related  to  the  mineral 
kingdom.  We  also  know  that  it  is  closely  related 
to  mineral  magnetism,  because  each  may  be  readily 
converted  into  the  other.  The  electricity  generated 
by  blasting-machines,  and  by  the  old-fashioned 
hand-rung  telephones,  is  merely  converted  magnet- 
ism, being  produced  by  agitating  magnets :  and  the 
magnetism  which  propels  street-cars  and  turns  elec- 
tric motors  is  merely  converted  electricity.  While 
friction  between  any  two  or  more  solid  bodies  pro- 
duces more  or  less  electricity  (or  sets  it  in  motion, 
if  it  be  a  material  substance),  its  production  in  com- 
mercial quantities  requires  the  employment  of 
purely  mineral  substances — either  metallic  ma- 
chines, or  batteries  composed  of  metals,  carbon, 
and  mineral  salts. 

It  was  also  demonstrated  long  ago  that  elec- 
tricity, be  it  force  or  matter,  moves  in  waves.  The 
length  of  these  waves  can  be  regulated  by  adjust- 
ment of  the  machine  which  produces  or  manipulates 
the  current ;  and  by  observing  the  law  of  wave- 
harmony  already  explained  in  a  previous  chapter, 
and  by  constructing  receiving  or  registering  instru- 
ments so  that  they  will  respond  only  to  a  particular 
wave-length,  several  messages  may  be  simultane- 


Looking  Forward  139 

ously  transmitted  over  a  single  wire  without  any 
confusion  whatever.  Many  inter-urban  telegraph 
wires  are  so  used  to-day,  and  in  some  instances  the 
trunk  wires  are  used  for  the  simultaneous  trans- 
mission of  both  telegraphic  and  telephonic  corre- 
spondence. If  man  could  but  accurately  regulate 
the  different  wave-lengths  generated  by  his  elec- 
trical machines,  so  as  to  preserve  a  perfect  rhythm 
among  them,  there  would  be  no  other  limit  to  the 
number  of  messages  that  might  be  sent  than  the 
current  carrying  capacity  of  the  wire. 

OTHER  ETHEREAL  WAVES 

And  so  it  is  that  everywhere  we  turn  we  find  the 
basic  governing  principle  in  all  phenomena  to  be  vi- 
bratory force  manifesting  in  different  wave-lengths 
and  through  different  media.  But  the  main  point 
here  under  consideration  is  the  apparent  fact  that, 
notwithstanding  man's  wonderful  achievements 
with  steam  and  electricity,  we  have  only  learned 
to  manipulate  the  very  coarsest  and  heaviest  phases 
of  nature's  great  complex  vibratory  force — the 
phases,  or  wave-lengths,  which  first  found  response 
in  the  sluggishly  evolving  atoms  of  the  mineral 
kingdom.  What  miracles  man  will  be  able  to  con- 
jure up  when,  if  ever,  he  learns  to  manipulate  the 
finer  phases,  or  shorter  wave-lengths,  of  the  great 
force  which  caused  the  integration  of  the  forms 
appearing  in  the  vegetable  kingdom,  we  can  only 
speculate. 

Some  of  the  efflorescences  of  electricity  give  evi- 


140  The  Science  of  Religion 

deuce  of  being  very  closely  akin  to  the  vibratory 
wave-lengths  which  produce  vegetable  cells.  By 
raising  the  resistance  to  an  electric  current  very 
high,  thereby  putting  it  under  great  pressure,  it  can 
be  forced  to  "  arc  "  (leap)  across  an  open  space  of 
considerable  length,  and  in  this  leaping  process  it 
moves  in  waves  of  almost  inconceivable  rapidity  of 
succession.  If  after  passing  through  such  an  open 
space,  or  "  spark-gap,"  and  having  its  waves  thus 
enormously  shortened  and  quickened,  it  be  distrib- 
uted over  a  network  of  highly  insulated  wires 
strung  above  a  field,  so  that  it  must  finally  dissi- 
pate through  the  air,  it  will  be  found  that  the 
growth  of  vegetation  on  the  field  will  thereby  be 
greatly  accelerated  and  increased.  Many  market 
gardens  are  equipped  with  just  such  electric  plants, 
and  it  is  said  that  the  acceleration  and  increase 
of  growth  more  than  compensate  for  the  cost  of 
installing  and  operating. 

The  X-rays  are  but  another  form  of  short  and 
rapid  ethereal  wave-lengths,  produced  by  forcing  a 
stream  of  very  small  particles  of  matter,  under  high 
electrical  pressure,  to  pass  through  a  vacuum  and 
strike  a  platinum  plate.  The  ethereal  wave-lengths 
produced  by  the  striking  of  these  very  small  par- 
ticles against  the  platinum  are  very  short  and  very 
discordant,  their  discord  being  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  small  particles  which  produce  them  by  striking 
the  plate  move  in  no  regular  order.  In  other  words, 
if  we  could  hear  X-rays  the  sound  would  be  merely 
noise,  whereas  if  we  could  hear  light  and  heat  the 


Looking  Forward  14 1 

sounds  would  have  tone.  These  short  and  discord- 
ant rays  are  invisible  to  the  physical  eye,  but  they 
possess  the  uncanny  faculty  of  passing  right  through 
the  atoms  and  molecules  of  which  physical  matter  is 
composed,  and  registering  upon  photographic  plates 
pictures  of  our  skeletons  while  we  are  yet  alive. 
The  very  name  of  these  waves  indicate  that  their 
exact  nature  and  length  are  not  known,  the  letter 
"  X  "  being  the  usual  algebraic  symbol  of  an  un- 
known quantity.  But  Science  knows  much  more 
about  them  now  than  when  the  name  was  first  ap- 
plied to  them,  and  their  place  in  the  scale  of  wave- 
lengths is  supposed  to  be  somewhere  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  ultra-violet  rays,  this  latter  being  a  rather 
loosely  used  term  designating  the  ether- waves  just 
a  little  shorter  than  the  shortest  light-waves. 

It  cannot  be  said  at  the  time  of  this  writing  that 
the  wave-length  of  the  X-rays  has  been  definitely 
ascertained,  but  what  has  been  here  said  fairly 
states  the  concensus  of  opinion.  There  is  a  dispute 
at  present  as  to  whether  or  not  they  are  really  rays 
at  all,  a  minority  holding  that  they  may  be  merely 
streams  of  fractional  atoms.  The  fact  that  they 
affect  photographic  plates  just  as  light  affects  them 
strongly  indicates  that  they  are  ethereal  waves, 
and  each  fresh  discovery  has  strengthened  this 
theory  and  gained  converts  for  it.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  assumed  for  the  immediate  present  that 
X-rays  are  ethereal  wave-lengths  just  a  little 
shorter  than  the  shortest  light  rays. 

We  all  know  the  benign  uses  to  which  X-rays 


142  The  Science  of  Religion 

have  been  put  in  revealing  bone  fractures  and  the 
location  of  bullets  and  internal  diseased  conditions ; 
but  Ave  are  not  all  so  familiar  with  some  of  their 
other  phenomena.  It  has  been  found  that  the 
X-rays,  like  the  waves  dissipated  over  a  field  from 
wires,  exercise  a  powerful  influence  over  vegetable 
growth  ;  but  whether  this  influence  is  to  be  malig- 
nant or  benign  depends  upon  the  intensity  of  the 
rays  and  the  length  of  time  in  which  vegetation  is 
exposed  to  them.  A  short  exposure  to  moderate 
intensity  results  in  accelerated  and  increased 
growth,  but  a  long  exposure  to  great  intensity 
results  in  dwarfing,  distortion  and  death.  Ex- 
posure of  even  the  germinating  seeds  of  vegetation 
so  modifies  the  life  potentialities  bound  up  in  them 
as  to  produce  similar  results  in  the  plants  into 
which  they  grow.  For  instance,  exposure  of 
germinating  beans  to  moderately  intense  X-rays 
for  a  short  time  will  cause  the  resulting  vines  to 
grow  more  rapidly  and  luxuriantly.  A  little  longer 
exposure  to  a  little  greater  intensity  will  also  result 
in  a  rapid  and  increased  vine  growth,  but  the  leaves 
and  stems  will  be  gnarled  and  distorted.  As  the 
intensity  and  length  of  exposure  are  gradually  in- 
creased from  this  point,  dwarfing  sets  in,  and  the 
gnarling  and  distortion  become  more  marked,  until 
a  duration  and  intensity  are  reached  which  kills 
the  germ  outright. 

It  seems  to  be  thus  conclusively  demonstrated 
that  ethereal  vibratory  rates  have  something  to  do 
with  the  growth  and  integration  of  vegetable  cells. 


Looking  Forward  143 

It  also  becomes  apparent  that  the  wave-lengths 
which  affect  the  growth  and  integration  of  vege- 
table cells  are  shorter  and  more  rapid  than  the 
wave-lengths  which  govern  the  building  up  and 
breaking  down  of  the  crystalline  entities  of  the 
mineral  world.  We  know  that  heat  is  merely  a 
series  of  ethereal  wTave-leugths  a  little  longer  than 
the  longest  red  ray  which  the  physical  eye  can 
sense  as  light ;  and  we  also  know  of  some  of  the 
changes  which  heat-waves  produce  in  the  entities 
of  the  mineral  kingdom.  Heat-waves  also  produce 
changes  in  vegetable  and  animal  matter  ;  but  such 
changes  are  always  discordant  and  destructive 
changes,  accomplished  by  a  breaking  down  of  the 
natural  and  constant  vibratory  rates  which  build 
up  vegetable  and  animal  cells  ;  whereas  the  changes 
they  work  in  mineral  matter  are  often  constructive 
— as,  for  instances,  the  formation  of  carbon  dioxide 
in  combustion  and  of  water  in  the  hydrogen  flame. 

Knowing  that  heat-waves  are  comparatively 
long,  and  seeing  that  they  often  assist  in  estab- 
lishing harmony  and  union  among  the  atoms  of 
the  mineral  kingdom,  we  are  logically  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  constant  and  all-pervading 
ethereal  waves  which  also  work  out  harmony  and 
union  among  the  atoms  of  the  mineral  kingdom 
are  likewise  long. 

The  X-rays  neither  build  up  nor  break  down  the 
crystals  of  the  purely  mineral  kingdom.  They 
begin  their  constructive  and  destructive  operations 
only  at  the  point  where  "  life  "  arises.     Since  the 


144  The  Science  of  Religion 

X-rays  are  short,  and  seeing  that  they  tend  to  dis- 
turb the  complex  atomic  groupings  manifesting  as 
vegetable  cells,  we  logically  conclude  that  the  all- 
pervading  and  constant  ethereal  waves  which  re- 
sult in  the  aggregation  of  atoms  into  vegetable 
cells  are  also  short ;  because  similar  results  are 
logically  attributable  to  similar  causes.  The  fact 
that  the  effects  of  X-rays  upon  animal  cells  are 
very  similar  to  their  effects  upon  vegetable  cells 
indicates  the  close  relationship  between  these  two 
manifestations  of  matter. 

This  theory  that  short  ethereal  vibratory  im- 
pulses have  something  to  do  with  the  integration 
and  growth  of  vegetable  cells  is  abundantly  cor- 
roborated by  the  common  knowledge  of  all  men 
that  light,  which  is  but  another  series  of  short 
ethereal  vibrations,  is  so  indispensable  to  plant 
welfare.  But  while  light  is  a  stimulant  to  vege- 
table growth,  we  do  not  begin  to  strike  at  the  very 
vitals  of  cellular  integration  until  we  reach  a  still 
shorter  ethereal  wave-length  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
X-rays.  We  must,  therefore,  conclude  that  the 
natural  and  constant  ethereal  wave-lengths  which 
impel  the  integration  of  atoms  into  vegetable  cells 
are  just  a  little  shorter  than  the  shortest  light 
waves. 

This  latter  conclusion  forces  upon  our  attention 
the  infinite  narrowness  of  range  of  the  ethereal 
vibrations  which  manifest  to  us  as  light ;  for  if  the 
conclusion  be  correct,  they  are  all  crowded  into  a 
small  space  in  the  great  scale  of  wave-lengths  in 


Looking  Forward  145 

the  vicinity  of  the  shortest  electro-magnetic  wave 
of  the  mineral  kingdom  and  the  longest  vito-chem- 
ical  waves  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  What  other 
floods  of  glorious  light  must  lave  the  universe, 
were  our  coarse  physical  eyes  but  attuned  to 
register  its  vibrations !  But  they  are  not  so 
attuned.  They  are  like  one  of  the  telegraph  in- 
struments attached  to  the  wire  along  which  many 
different  wave-lengths  of  electricity  are  running ; 
they  register  those  wave-lengths  to  which  they  are 
attuned,  and  the  others  make  no  impression  upon 
them. 

HOW  VEGETATION  GROWS 

Light  produces  some  measure  of  atomic  activity 
and  chemical  change  in  many  mineral  substances, 
and  it  is  possible  that  in  ages  agone,  when  certain 
complex  mineral  compounds  had  reached  a  condi- 
tion of  refinement  at  which  they  were  almost  ready 
to  change  their  vibratory  rates  from  the  electro- 
magnetic to  the  vito-chemical,  it  assisted  them  in 
making  the  transition.  It  apparently  performs  just 
that  function  in  vegetable  life  and  growth  at  the 
present  time.  Plants  and  trees  feed  upon  potash, 
carbon,  phosphorus,  nitrogen  and  water.  But  if 
we  should  fill  a  pot  with  a  mixture  of  graphite, 
phosphorus,  metallic  potassium  and  water,  set  a 
plant  in  the  mixture,  and  then  place  the  pot  under 
a  bell-jar  filled  with  nitrogen  gas,  the  plant  would 
not  grow.  All  the  elements  of  its  food  would  be 
present,  but  they  would  not  be  in  such  states  of  re- 


146  The  Science  of  Religion 

finement  that  it  could  convert  them  into  vegetable 
cells.  But  if  the  potassium  be  combined  with 
nitrogen  or  chlorine ;  if  the  phosphorus  be  blended 
with  hydrogen  and  oxygen  into  phosphoric  acid ;  if 
the  nitrogen  atoms  be  tied  up  with  sodium  and 
oxygen  into  sodium  nitrate ;  and  if  the  carbon  be 
compounded  with  oxygen  into  carbon  dioxide ;  they 
will  thereby  be  raised  to  a  condition  of  refinement 
which  will  render  them  available  as  food,  and  the 
plant  will  be  able  to  build  cells  with  them  ;  provided, 
always,  that  it  can  have  the  assistance  of  light. 

A  plant  totally  deprived  of  light  may  live  for 
a  considerable  time,  and  may  absorb  water  by 
capillary  attraction,  and  shift  some  of  its  constit- 
uents around  into  the  form  of  tender  white  roots 
and  scions ;  but  the  aggregate  weight  of  its  solid 
matter  will  not  be  appreciably  increased.  This 
point  is  roughly  illustrated  by  another  method 
sometimes  employed  by  the  market-gardener.  New 
potatoes  in  the  winter  season  are  considered  a  deli- 
cacy in  northern  climates,  and  the  gardener  some- 
times meets  the  demand  for  them  in  a  curious  and 
interesting  way.  Old  potatoes,  being  comparatively 
cheap,  are  thickly  embedded  in  shallow  boxes  of 
moist  sand  in  a  warm  cellar  which  is  utterly  dark. 
The  potatoes  so  conditioned  soon  began  to  send  out 
roots  into  the  sand,  and  to  form  small  new  potatoes 
at  the  end  of  some  of  those  roots,  but  no  vines  ap- 
pear. The  new  potatoes  feed  upon  the  parent  un- 
til it  is  exhausted,  and  then  their  growth  ceases. 
But  the  old  potatoes  are  converted  into  new  pota- 


Looking  Forward  147 

toes,  and  the  enterprising  gardener  gets  the  increased 
price  for  his  trouble.  At  one  time  it  was  the  cus- 
tom to  fill  the  boxes  with  moist  fertile  soil,  but  it 
was  soon  discovered  that  the  new  potatoes  were 
produced  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  old  pota- 
toes used,  without  reference  to  the  quality  of  the 
soil,  and  then  sand  was  substituted  for  the  soil  for 
the  sake  of  cleanliness. 

This  potato  experiment  shows  that  potatoes,  at 
least,  cannot  convert  mineral  matter  into  vegetable 
matter  without  the  vibratory  aid  of  light  waves. 
They  can  shift  their  constituent  elements  around  in 
darkness,  but  cannot  add  to  them.  In  short,  when 
the  atoms  have  been  refined  and  grouped  into  com- 
plex molecules  to  the  very  limit  that  these  things 
can  be  accomplished  by  the  all-pervading  ethereal 
wave-lengths  which  impel  vibration  of  the  atoms 
of  the  mineral  kingdom,  it  is  still  a  step  (a  short 
one,  but  nevertheless  a  step)  in  the  refining  and 
quickening  process  to  the  point  at  which  these  com- 
plex molecules  can  respond  to  the  next  higher  all- 
pervading  ethereal  wave-lengths  which  will  impel 
them  to  aggregate  into  the  form  of  vegetable  cells ; 
and  the  comparatively  local  ether-waves  which 
manifest  to  us  as  light  render  their  small  mede  of 
further  refining  and  quickening  at  this  last  step. 
The  atoms  thus  assisted  by  light-waves  to  bridge 
this  last  gap  and  reach  coordination  with  the  next 
higher  constant  and  all-pervading  weaves  are  able 
to  remain  in  coordination  with  those  shorter  waves 
even  though  the  light  be  afterwards  withdrawn. 


148  The  Science  of  Religion 

Being  assisted  to  arrive,  they  are  able  to  remain, 
to  which  phenomenon  we  find  a  number  of  parallels 
in  the  mineral  kingdom.  For  instance,  oxygen 
atoms  and  hydrogen  atoms  are  not  quite  har- 
monious in  their  natural  vibratory  rates,  and  will 
not  unite  into  molecules  of  water  unless  they  be 
thereunto  initially  assisted.  Such  assistance  may 
be  given  them  by  subjecting  them  to  the  ether- 
waves  called  "  heat "  at  the  amplitude  of  com- 
bustion, whereupon  they  unite  to  form  water, 
and  remain  so  united  even  though  they  after- 
wards be  subjected  to  temperatures  far  below 
freezing. 

But  the  potato  experiment  in  the  dark  cellar  is 
not  the  only  source  of  our  knowledge  concerning 
the  action  of  light  in  assisting  the  plant  to  "  digest " 
mineral  matter  and  build  it  into  vegetable  cells. 
We  know  quite  a  lot  besides.  We  know  that  in 
the  leaves  of  all  trees  and  plants  there  are  myriads 
of  little  green  cells,  called  "  chloroplasts,"  which, 
under  the  stimulation  of  light,  are  the  busiest 
workers  in  the  vegetable  kingdom.  The  seed 
planted  in  the  earth  absorbs  water,  with  which  it 
dilutes  the  dried  food  stored  up  within  itself  ;  and 
with  this  solution  it  builds  white  roots  which  go 
out  into  the  earth,  and  a  white  crown  or  shoot 
which  goes  upward  into  the  air  and  light.  In  the 
process  of  absorbing  water  some  mineral  substances 
in  solution  must  necessarily,  and  as  a  simple  matter 
of  mechanics,  also  be  absorbed  by  the  expanding 
germ,  and    some    chemical  rearrangements  must 


Looking  Forward  149 

thereby  be  effected ;  but  none  of  those  mineral  sub- 
stances are  converted  into  purely  vegetable  matter 
until  the  light  is  reached. 

THE  MIRACLE  PERFORMED 

But  when  the  light  is  reached  the  crown  turns 
green — some  of  its  cells  become  chloroplasts.  Car- 
bon dioxide  (carbonic  acid  gas,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called)  is  always  present  in  the  atmosphere,  being 
produced  by  combustion,  animal  breathing,  fer- 
mentation, and  a  number  of  other  causes ;  and  as 
soon  as  the  sun  begins  to  shine  upon  the  plant  it 
begins  to  absorb  this  gas.  In  other  words,  when  a 
molecule  of  carbon  dioxide  comes  into  contact  with 
a  leaf,  it  quickly  enters  through  one  of  the  pores 
and  goes  to  the  internal  layers,  where  it  blends 
with  water  into  the  form  of  a  molecule  of  carbonic 
acid.  Then,  when  the  sun  shines  upon  the  leaf, 
the  chloroplasts  absorb  certain  of  the  wave-lengths 
of  light  which  will  cause  the  atoms  in  the  carbon 
and  water  compound  to  vibrate,  and  the  vibrations 
thus  produced  assist  those  atoms  to  vibratory  re- 
sponse to  the  constant  and  all-pervading  ether- 
waves  which  cause  atoms  to  aggregate  into  the 
form  of  vegetable  cells  ;  and  the  atoms  of  oxygen, 
carbon  and  hydrogen  are  thus  raised  from  the  level 
of  the  mineral  kingdom  and  assume  the  form  of 
vegetable  cells,  manifesting  as  various  kinds  of 
carbo-hydrates,  such  as  sugar,  starch,  glucose, 
gum,  etc. 

And  so  it  is  that  we  catch  dead  mineral  matter 


150  The  Science  of  Religion 

in  the  very  act  of  becoming  living  vegetable  matter, 
and,  moreover,  we  have  discovered  how  it  does  it. 

A  technical  problem  in  physics  is  here  encoun- 
tered, which  cannot  be  totally  ignored  without 
inviting  the  condemnation  of  our  scientific  friends, 
and  perhaps  causing  them  to  pronounce  the  entire 
theory  "  unscientific."  Therefore  an  eifort  will  be 
made  to  state  the  problem  and  briefly  deal  with  it 
in  terms  which  the  average  layman  will  be  able  to 
understand. 

We  have  already  observed  that  X-rays  have 
something  to  do  with  the  integration  of  atoms  into 
vegetable  cells,  and  we  have  tentatively  accepted 
the  majority  opinion  that  those  rays  are  ether- 
waves  which  are  shorter  than  light-waves.  We 
have  now  observed  that  the  chloroplast  uses  certain 
light-waves  to  assist  the  atoms  to  respond  to  the 
shorter  constant  and  all-pervading  ether-waves. 
Our  scientific  friends  will  be  prompt  in  reminding 
us  that  the  chloroplast  absorbs  the  very  longest 
light-waves,  and  throws  off  the  shorter  ones.  This 
puts  our  theory  into  a  rather  awkward  predica- 
ment ;  because  it  is  a  considerable  distance  in  the 
scale  of  wave-lengths  from  the  red,  orange  and 
yellow  rays,  which  the  chloroplast  freely  absorbs, 
to  the  place  which  the  X-rays  are  generally  supposed 
to  occupy,  and  the  theory  is  thus  forced  into  the 
position  of  proposing  that  the  longest  light-waves 
and  the  very  short  X-rays  produce  similar  vibratory 
results  among  the  atoms  of  matter.  There  seems  to 
be  something  radically  wrong  with  any  such  theory. 


Looking  Forward  151 

The  problem  is  thus  freely  and  fairly  stated  in 
language  which  average  intelligence  can  fully 
understand.  It  is  also  freely  and  frankly  admitted 
that  its  solution  is  not  simple,  and  that  it  can  never 
be  complete  and  satisfactory  until  we  learn  some- 
thing more  about  what  takes  place  within  the 
chloroplast  itself,  nor  until  we  know  something 
more  definite  about  the  length  of  the  X-rays.  The 
problem  presents  a  number  of  enigmas,  and  specu- 
lative possibilities  arise  with  each  one  of  them.  In 
the  first  place,  no  one  knows  that  X-rays  are  shorter 
than  the  shortest  light-waves.  The  perfect  spectrum 
of  sunlight  shows  numerous  dark  belts  or  zones.  If 
sunlight  happens  to  fall  on  a  bevelled  mirror  lying  on 
a  dressing-table  near  a  window,  it  will  be  reflected 
upward  to  the  ceiling  in  all  the  colours  of  the  rain- 
bow. These  colours  are  all  in  the  sunlight,  and 
when  they  are  perfectly  blended  they  make  white 
daylight.  The  bevelled  mirror  merely  causes  the 
different  wave-lengths  to  glance  off  at  different 
tangents,  so  that  they  strike  the  ceiling  at  different 
places.  But  scientists  can  make  crystal  prisms 
which  are  geometrically  perfect,  and  which  reflect 
the  different  rays  very  much  more  accurately  than 
does  the  bevelled  mirror.  The  prismatic  colours  of 
light  thus  reflected  are  called  its  spectrum,  and  it 
is  in  this  spectrum  that  the  dark  zones  are  found. 
These  dark  zones  lie  between  different  colours. 
For  instance,  the  orange  colour  gradually  shades 
off  to  a  very  pure  clear  yellow,  and  then  there  is  a 
clear-cut  dark  band  beyond  which  the  light  begins 


152  The  Science  of  Religion 

to  assume  a  greenish  tint;  which  means  that  in 
sunlight  there  are  no  waves  of  such  length  that 
they  may  be  reflected  to  this  dark  zone. 

Now,  since  we  can  only  speculate,  and  since  no 
one  knows  the  true  length  of  the  X-rays,  let  us  sup- 
pose that  they  are  of  a  length  which  would  cause 
them  to  fall  within  this  gap  between  the  yellow  and 
the  green,  such  rays  being  invisible  to  the  physical 
eye.  And  let  us  suppose,  further,  that  the  all-pervad- 
ing and  constant  wave-lengths  which  cause  mineral 
matter  to  become  vegetable  matter  also  are  of  such 
length  that  they  fall  within  this  gap,  taking  a 
place  just  below  the  X-rays.  If  these  suppositions 
can  be  conceived  of  as  possibly  correct,  in  the  light 
of  our  present  knowledge  of  the  subject,  then  the 
perplexing  problem  is  very  easily  and  simply 
solved.  If  the  wave-lengths  are  thus  properly 
placed,  then  it  becomes  clear  that  the  chloroplast 
selects  such  wave-lengths  of  light  as  it  can  use  in 
working  the  atoms  up  to  the  proper  pitch,  and  re- 
jects all  others.  By  playing  these  selected  waves 
upon  the  atoms  of  carbonic  acid  it  raises  the  vibra- 
tory rates  of  the  atoms  to  a  pitch  at  which  they 
are  picked  up  by  the  constant  and  all-pervading 
ether-waves  which  cause  them  to  aggregate  as 
sugar,  starch,  etc.  It  is  also  clear  that  the  X-rays, 
lying  just  above  the  all-pervading  waves  which 
work  this  magical  change,  might  exert  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  formation  of  vegetable  cells, 
though  they  are  just  a  trifle  too  short  to  cause 
mineral  matter  to  become  vegetable  matter.     This 


Looking  Forward  153 

theory  drops  the  X-rays  far  down  the  scale  of 
wave-lengths  below  the  position  they  are  supposed 
to  occupy ;  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  scien- 
tists know  so  little  about  them  that  they  are  not 
even  agreed  that  they  are  really  rays,  the  liberty 
thus  taken  in  dealing  with  them  may  be  pardoned. 

In  the  second  place,  the  chloroplast  absorbs 
small  quantities  of  other  rays  than  the  red,  orange 
and  yellow,  and  no  one  knows  just  what  kind  of  a 
vibratory  combination  it  may  make,  within  itself, 
of  large  quantities  of  long  rays  and  small  quantities 
of  shorter  ones.  The  possible  vibratory  effects  of 
a  re-combination  of  these  selected  rays  are  too 
speculative  for  consideration  here.  Such  a  re-com- 
bination may  result  in  an  improvised  ethereal  wave 
which  is  shorter  than  any  ray  of  light,  and  which 
occupies  a  place  in  the  scale  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  the  position  the  X-rays  are  generally  supposed 
to  occupy.  If  this  latter  theory  be  tenable,  then 
it  is  not  necessary  to  degrade  the  X-rays  from 
the  exalted  position  in  the  scale  which  has  been 
assigned  to  them. 

There  is  yet  another  possible  explanation  of  this 
seeming  conflict.  The  chloroplasts  gather  at  the 
very  surface  of  the  leaf,  so  as  to  interpose  a  shield 
between  the  inner  layers  and  the  source  of  light. 
Mineral  matter  becomes  living  vegetable  matter 
in  the  interior  structure  of  the  leaf  under  the  heavy 
layers  of  chloroplasts.  Now,  the  layers  of  chloro- 
plasts stop  the  red,  orange  and  yellow  waves  of 
sunlight,    and    permit  nearly  all  of  the  shorter 


154  '  The  Science  of  Religion 

waves  to  pass  through  and  penetrate  to  the  almost 
colourless  inner  layers  of  the  leaf.  A  small  part  of 
the  shorter  waves  stop  in  the  inner  portion  of  the 
leaf,  though  the  majority  of  them  pass  through. 
Therefore,  it  is  conceivable  that  the  chloroplasts 
stop  the  long  waves  and  convert  them  into  warmth 
(which  is  necessary  to  plant  growth),  and  permit 
the  shorter  waves  to  pass  along  and  play  upon  the 
molecules  of  carbonic  acid  within  the  leaf.  On 
account  of  the  extreme  scarcity  of  carbon  dioxide 
in  the  atmosphere,  the  leaf  never  has  all  the  car- 
bonic acid  it  could  manufacture  into  cells  by  the 
use  of  direct  sunlight,  which  would  explain  the 
fact  that  it  uses  such  a  small  percentage  of  the 
short  waves  which  the  chloroplasts  allow  to  pass. 
The  inner  layers  get  all  the  short  waves  in  the 
sunlight,  but  they  are  short  of  raw  material  and 
can  use  only  a  small  part  of  them. 

And  yet  again,  the  subject  will  bear  speculation 
from  another  angle.  Let  us  admit  for  the  mo- 
ment, and  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  the  leaf 
uses  the  red  and  yellow  waves  of  light  in  perform- 
ing the  miracle  of  life,  and  that  the  absorption  of 
some  of  the  shorter  ones  is  a  mere  accident. 
"Waves  moving  through  the  ether  are  transverse ; 
that  is,  they  have  an  up  and  down  motion,  as  well 
as  a  forward  motion.  Huygen  long  ago  demon- 
strated that  such  transverse  waves  produce  in  the 
medium  through  which  they  move  a  veritable  net- 
work of  shorter  "secondary  waves,"  which  exist 
for  a  very  short  space  of  time,  and  are  then  neu- 


Looking  Forward  155 

tralized  and  smoothed  down  by  antagonistic  inter- 
actions among  themselves.  The  principle  thus 
propounded  has  now  been  thoroughly  worked  out 
and  established  by  other  scientists,  but  it  is  still 
known  as  Huy gen's  Principle.  The  secondary 
waves  have  a  length  proportionate  to  the  initial 
wave  which  produces  them,  so  that  a  long  initial 
wave  produces  comparatively  long  secondary 
waves,  and  a  short  initial  wave  produces  com- 
paratively short  secondary  waves.  Therefore, 
even  admitting  that  the  leaf  uses  the  long  waves 
of  light  in  giving  life  to  dead  mineral  matter,  it  is 
just  possible  that  the  short  secondary  waves  which 
constantly  spring  up  and  die  out  in  these  long 
light- waves  are  the  vibrations  that  perform  the 
miracle. 

This  same  Huygen's  Principle  may  also  offer  an 
explanation  of  the  action  of  the  electro-magnetic 
waves  diffused  in  the  air  above  growing  vegeta- 
tion. Even  the  very  shortest  of  these  electro-mag- 
netic waves  are  much  longer  than  any  ray  of  light, 
but  we  have  seen  that  they  stimulate  vegetable 
growth  and  cellular  aggregation  in  something  of 
the  same  fashion  that  these  phenomena  are  stimu- 
lated by  the  very  short  X-rays ;  and  it  is  just  pos- 
sible that  the  secondary  waves  within  them  furnish 
the  motive  power  so  manifested.  It  is  also  just 
possible  that  the  electro-magnetic  waves  do  not 
actually  assist  in  the  transformation  of  carbonic 
acid  into  vegetable  cells,  but  that  either  they  or 
the  shorter  secondary  waves  moving  within  them 


156  The  Science  of  Religion 

act  only  upon  the  purely  mineral  matter  in  the 
plant,  thereby  merely  stimulating  sap  movement. 

Our  extreme  poverty  of  exact  knowledge  con- 
cerning this  vital  question  is  thus  made  to  fully  ap- 
pear. The  hypotheses  here  proposed  as  possible 
solutions  are  but  speculative  hypotheses ;  they  may 
all  be  incorrect,  and  the  author  will  be  no  whit 
chagrined  if  they  be  so  accounted  and  proved. 
The  all-important  fact,  towering  like  a  mountain 
peak  above  all  the  mists  of  doubt  and  speculation, 
is  that  some  kind  of  ether-waves  cause  dead  mineral 
matter  to  become  living  vegetable  cells.  Science 
will  sooner  or  later  learn  just  what  kind  of  ether- 
waves  produce  this  wonderful  change.  It  will  find 
and  measure  the  wave-length  which  the  chloroplast 
employs  in  bridging  the  gap  between  the  electro- 
magnetic wave-lengths  of  the  mineral  kingdom  and 
the  vi to-chemical  wave-lengths  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  and,  having  found  and  measured  that 
wave-length,  will  produce  it  artificially. 

MORE   LEAF   CHEMISTRY 

Having  taken  this  little  excursion  into  the  realm 
of  speculation,  let  us  return  to  the  chloroplast  and 
its  work.  If  starch  is  the  peculiar  product  of  the 
plant,  the  chloroplast  must  always  first  produce 
sugar  and  then  convert  it  into  starch,  the  latter  be- 
ing a  more  highly  complex  compound  and  requir- 
ing additional  refinement.  It  requires  less  sunlight 
for  the  production  of  sugar  than  for  the  production 
of  starch.     But  the  chloroplasts  in  the  starch-pro- 


Looking  Forward  157 

ducing  plants  need  not  and  do  not  go  on  a  vacation 
during  cloudy  weather.  When  the  sky  is  overcast 
with  clouds  they  manufacture  sugar,  which  is  stored 
in  the  leaves,  and  when  the  sun  shines  out  brightly 
they  convert  this  store  of  sugar  into  starch. 

These  carbo-hydrates,  whether  they  be  sugar, 
glucose,  starch  or  gum,  go  down  through  the  stems 
or  limbs  of  the  plant  or  tree  and  become  the  basis 
of  its  food.  Combined  with  the  mineral  substances 
which  come  up  from  the  earth,  and  which  act  more 
as  stimulants  of  sap  movement  than  as  food,  they 
make  up  the  sum  total  of  vegetable  matter.  Inci- 
dentally, they  are  the  products  which  support  all 
animal  life,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  for  no 
animal  can  subsist  upon  mineral  matter. 

SYNTHETIC   FOOD 

When  man  shall  have  learned  to  artificially  pro- 
duce the  ethereal  wave-length  employed  by  the 
little  chloroplast,  the  results  which  will  probably 
be  attained  stagger  the  imagination  to  even  con- 
template. One  of  the  inevitable  results  which 
looms  so  large  in  contemplation  as  to  immediately 
obtrude  itself  upon  our  attention  will  be  the  pro- 
duction of  artificial  food.  Water,  and  carbonic 
acid  gas,  and  fertile  soil  or  "  fertilizer,'*  will  be 
turned  into  great  mills  and  laboratories,  there  to  be 
properly  blended  and  treated  with  the  "  Chloro- 
Kays,"  and  will  emerge  as  sugar,  starch,  glucose, 
oils,  and  all  such  other  staple  foods  as  we  now  de- 
rive   from  vegetation.     Droughts  and  floods  and 


158  The  Science  of  Religion 

frosts  will  then  no  longer  matter.  The  tillage  of 
the  soil,  the  heaviest  unit  in  the  burden  of  the 
world's  labour,  will  become  a  mere  pastime  of  land- 
scape gardening,  for  even  the  cattle  will  be  fed 
with  the  by-products  of  the  mills.  Imagination 
thus  runs  mad  before  even  this  first  and  most 
patent  possibility. 

When  will  man  work  out  and  apply  this  great 
secret?  Whenever  our  scientists  come  to  realize 
that  God  is  an  all-pervading  Force  acting  upon 
matter  from  without,  and  that  all  life  and  growth 
and  change  are  the  results  of  that  force  alone. 
But  not  so  long  as  they  are  lashed  to  the  cart-tail 
of  the  juggernaut  "Physical  Matter,"  and  go 
through  life  acting  upon  the  theory  that  the  phys- 
ical is  everything  and  that  beside  it  there  is  nothing 
else— that  all  of  life,  and  intelligence,  and  faith,  and 
hope,  and  love  have  a  beginning  and  ending  in 
physical  matter.  Eebel,  noble  slaves !  Strike  off 
your  shackles !  You  have  been  looking  to  physical 
matter  to  teach  you  the  secret  of  life  and  growth 
and  chemical  change,  and  you  have  become  en- 
meshed in  a  tangle  of  facts  and  speculations  con- 
cerning "  protoplasm,"  and  "  enzymes,"  and  "  fer- 
ments." Can  you  not  realize  that  these  things  did 
not  exist  in  gaseous  incandescence,  and  that  some 
force  must  have  evolved  them  from  it  ?  You  do 
realize  this,  in  some  sort  of  a  way,  but  you  have 
been  trying  to  find  that  force  in  physical  matter 
itself.  Look  up !  Some  of  your  great  men  have 
already  deserted  you.     The  collaborator  of  Charles 


Looking  Forward  159 

Darwin  lived  to  acknowledge  God  as  the  First 
Cause  behind  Evolution,  though  he  never  learned 
much  about  the  operations  of  that  Cause.  One  of 
the  greatest  scientists  of  this  generation  is  fully 
committed  to  the  proposition  that  there  is  a  God- 
force  behind  the  phenomena  of  matter,  though  he 
has  not  told  us  much  about  how  it  works.  The 
collaborator  of  Roentgen  is  committed  to  the  major 
hypotheses  of  this  book,  and  has  come  marvellously 
near  raising  purely  mineral  matter  to  the  condition 
of  cellular  aggregation,  if,  indeed,  he  has  not  al- 
ready actually  accomplished  that  great  miracle. 
Of  some  of  these  things  the  world  has  heard  but 
little,  because  the  intolerance,  jeers  and  ridicule  of 
your  majority  have  driven  some  of  your  greatest 
men  into  seclusion  with  their  advanced  experiments 
and  demonstrations. 

Come !  Let  us  get  God  and  Science  into  part- 
nership, and  really  accomplish  something !  Let 
our  scientists  devote  themselves  to  the  problem  of 
generating  a  wider  range  of  ethereal  vibrations, 
and  an  intelligent  study  of  the  effects  of  those 
vibrations  upon  different  kinds  of  matter.  They 
have  accidentally  stumbled  into  the  border  of  this 
great  field  already ;  now  let  them  till  it  and  bring 
it  to  harvest. 

The  author  is  fully  aware  that  this  is  a  tedious 
and  difficult  chapter  for  the  average  man  and 
woman  upon  whom  rests  the  burden  of  the  every- 
day affairs  of  life.  This  was  understood  before  its 
writing  was  attempted,  and  has  not  been  lost  sight 


160  The  Science  of  Religion 

of  for  a  single  moment.  But  the  effort  has  been 
to  so  phrase  facts  and  deductions  that  just  such 
average  men  and  women  could  comprehend  them. 
The  author  is  himself  but  such  an  average  man, 
with  all  the  burdens  and  cares  of  the  complex 
workaday  world  resting  heavily  upon  him,  and  this 
book  is  written  in  carefully  husbanded  moments 
which  he  is  not  compelled  to  devote  to  other  things. 
This  chapter  might  have  been  entirely  omitted 
without  impairing  the  general  scheme,  but  it  con- 
tains vitally  interesting  matter,  and  is  in  exact  line 
with  the  other  hypotheses  and  postulates  herein 
adopted.  If  it  has  not  been  fairly  comprehended, 
it  ought  to  be  read  a  second  time.  While  some  of 
its  phases  are  rather  technical  and  delicate,  the  gist 
of  it  is  simple.  Its  purpose  is  to  show  that  the 
great  all-pervading  God-force  which  we  have  been 
considering  is  responsible  for  all  of  life  and  growth 
and  change  in  the  world ;  that  God  not  only  created 
the  heaven  and  the  earth  in  the  beginning,  but  that 
He  is  still  creating,  day  by  day,  minute  by  minute, 
and  second  by  second,  and  that  without  Him  there 
is  not  anything  made  which  is  made ;  and  that 
Science,  by  coming  to  a  realization  of  this  great 
fact,  and  intelligently  cooperating  with  this  great 
Force,  will  be  able  to  perform  miracles  of  which 
men  have  never  even  dreamed. 


XV 

SPIRITUAL  MATTER,  LIFE  AND  INTELLI- 
GENCE 

THE    title  of  this  chapter  will  probably 
cause  our  scientific  friends  who  have  been 
good  enough  to  come  with  us  this  far  to 
"  go  up  into  the  air." 

AN  EMBARRASSING  QUESTION 

In  order  to  bring  those  good  friends  back  to  the 
earth,  the  first  part  of  the  chapter  will  be  devoted 
to  an  irrelevant  question  with  which  Religion  has 
harassed  Science  since  the  first  principles  of  Evo- 
lution were  propounded,  and  which  seems  never  to 
have  been  satisfactorily  answered.  Here  is  the 
question :  If  living  matter  was  evolved  from  non- 
living matter  by  the  play  of  natural  forces,  why  is 
it  that  those  same  forces  are  not  still  causing  life  to 
spring  up  where  none  was  before  ? 

THE  ANSWER 

There  may  be  more  than  one  possible  answer  to 
this  question,  but  there  is  one  which  seems  to  be 
flawless.  Here  it  is :  Because  when  life  came  it 
occupied  the  entire  field,  and  uses  up  all  the  "  raw 
material"  before  it  reaches  a  stage  of  refinement 
at  which  it  can  be  acted  upon  by  the  forces  which 

161 


162  The  Science  of  Religion 


O' 


produced  life  in  the  first  instance.  Living  matter 
can  absorb  non-living  matter  before  such  non-living 
matter  has  reached  a  stage  of  refinement  at  which 
it  would  spontaneously  spring  into  life  under  the 
impulse  of  all-pervading  force,  and,  having  absorbed 
it,  can  rearrange  its  atoms  and  so  refine  it  as  to 
make  it  a  part  of  itself.  And  living  matter  is 
everywhere.  Whenever  and  wherever  a  molecule 
of  solid  mineral  matter  reaches  a  stage  of  refine- 
ment and  complexity  closely  approaching  the  stage 
at  which  it  might  become  a  component  part  of  a 
living  cell,  a  living  organism,  either  vegetable  or 
animal,  is  lying  in  wait  for  it  and  immediately  ap- 
propriates it.  These  living  organisms  abound 
everywhere,  ranging  in  size  from  the  smallest 
microscopical  bacillus  to  the  great  redwood  trees 
of  California,  and  from  the  smallest  microbe  to  the 
largest  whale.  In  the  time  just  preceding  the  rise 
of  vegetable  life  this  was  not  so.  In  that  age  the 
refining  forces  of  nature  might  work  mineral  mat- 
ter up  ever  so  close  to  the  proper  state  for  the  pro- 
duction of  a  vegetable  cell,  but  until  the  proper 
state  was  exactly  attained  the  cell  refused  to  ap- 
pear. Under  those  conditions  it  may  well  be  im- 
agined that  much  mineral  matter  at  the  surface  of 
the  earth  attained  to  a  high  degree  of  complexity 
and  refinement,  and  was  great  with  life-inspiring 
potentiality.  But  when  at  last  Nature  had  pro- 
duced living  entities  through  its  refining  processes, 
they  not  only  took  up  the  work  of  evolution  from 
that  point  forward,  but  retroacted  and  took  from 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     163 

Nature  some  of  the  work  theretofore  clone  by  it.  In 
other  words,  the  vibratory  agitations  and  attrac- 
tions of  the  atoms  in  the  living  cell  create  an  in- 
duced ethereal  vibratory  rate  in  and  immediately 
about  the  cell  which  is  peculiar  to  it,  and  which 
hastens  the  refinement  of  other  atoms  which  come 
within  the  zone  of  its  influence,  provided  such  other 
atoms  have  already  been  refined  almost  to  the  point 
of  becoming  living  cells. 

"  But,"  says  some  patient  biological  chemist, 
"  why  does  not  life  spring  up  in  my  test-tubes  filled 
with  nutrient  material  in  which  all  forms  of  life 
have  been  killed  ?  If  there  is  an  all-pervading 
wave-force  in  the  all-pervading  ether  which  once 
converted  non-living  matter  into  living  matter,  why 
does  not  that  wave-force  pervade  my  test-tubes  and 
produce  life  in  them  ?  " 

There  are  also  several  possible  answers  to  this 
very  pertinent  question.  It  is  just  barely  possible 
that  our  questioning  friend  cannot  artificially  dupli- 
cate in  his  test-tubes  the  exact  conditions  of  refined 
mineral  matter  at  the  time  life  first  appeared  upon 
the  earth.  We  can  only  speculate  as  to  what  were 
the  conditions  of  mineral  complexity,  atomic  ten- 
sion and  molecular  activity,  existing  under  the  high 
potential  of  Nature's  creative  force  just  prior  to  its 
"  discharge  "  in  the  creation  of  a  living  cell ;  and  it 
may  be  that  those  conditions  cannot  be  duplicated 
in  a  test-tube.  But  admitting  that  the  exact  con- 
ditions may  be  duplicated,  there  would  still  be  open 
to  our  friend  a  range  of  possible  blendings  and  con- 


164  The  Science  of  Religion 

ditionings  of  his  material  running  into  the  millions, 
and  it  is  just  possible  that  he  has  not  yet  guessed 
right.  Anyway,  the  test-tube  route  does  not  lead 
anywhere.  Suppose  a  certain  sterilized  composition 
should  produce  some  microscopic  mould ;  what  of 
it  ?  It  would  be  interesting,  it  is  true ;  and  the  ma- 
terialists would  probably  jubilate  over  the  discovery 
of  the  apparent  fact  that  physical  matter  can  pro- 
duce life.  But  no  practical  purpose  would  have 
been  achieved,  and  it  might  be  urged  with  equal 
logic  and  reason  that  physical  matter  had  merely 
been  put  in  such  condition  that  natural  forces  had 
produced  life  within  it. 

BIOLOGICAL  SUGGESTIONS 
It  is  respectfully  suggested  to  our  friend  that  he 
study  the  chloroplast,  which  is  actually  doing  the 
work  in  which  he  is  interested.  Or  he  might  go 
into  partnership  with  a  physicist,  and  endeavour 
to  produce  a  form  of  ethereal  radiation  which  will 
have  a  wave-length  falling  within  the  dark  band 
between  the  yellow  and  green  in  the  spectrum  of 
sunlight.  If  such  a  wave-length,  when  produced, 
fails  to  accomplish  his  purpose,  he  might  try  to 
produce  others  which  will  fall  within  the  other 
dark  bands  higher  up  in  the  spectrum  of  sunlight, 
and  keep  on  so  ascending  until  he  reaches  the  place 
in  the  scale  of  wave-lengths  usually  assigned  to  the 
X-rays,  which  latter  undoubtedly  exercise  a  peculiar 
influence  over  the  subject-matter  of  his  quest.  He 
may  object  that  an  almost  superhuman  task  is  set 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     165 

before  him  in  these  suggestions,  which  may  or  may 
not  be  true.  Science  has  measured  some  of  the 
"fluorescences,"  or  improvised  wave-lengths,  sent 
into  the  immediately  surrounding  ether  by  the 
atomic  and  molecular  vibrations  of  several  differ- 
ent kinds  of  matter,  and  has  found  that  those  im- 
provised wave-lengths  vary  in  different  substances 
from  about  vxrfvvu  of  an  inch  to  about  jfov  of  an 
inch.  In  a  few  instances  it  has  been  found  that 
such  improvised  wave-lengths  are  longer  than  the 
wave-lengths  from  which  they  are  improvised. 
Thus,  X-rays,  which  cannot  be  seen  (supposedly  on 
account  of  their  extreme  shortness),  cause  certain 
mineral  substances  to  give  off  wave-lengths  which 
can  be  seen;  and  certain  ultra-violet  rays,  which 
cannot  be  seen  on  account  of  their  extreme  short- 
ness, cause  a  solution  of  quinine  to  give  off  wave- 
lengths which  manifest  to  the  sense  of  sight  as  blue 
and  violet.  These  are  steps  in  the  direction  sug- 
gested. Our  biological  friend  may  suggest  that 
certain  ferments  in  the  leaf,  called  "enzymes," 
seem  also  to  have  something  to  do  with  trans- 
muting carbonic  acid  into  sugar  and  starch.  This 
is  conceded ;  but  what  are  enzymes  ?  They  are 
merely  groupings  of  atoms  in  the  leaf,  which 
grouping  is  a  part  of  the  vibratory  process.  There 
were  no  enzymes  in  gaseous  incandescence.  They 
are  the  products  of  evolutionary  force.  There  is  no 
pretense  of  saying  here  that  the  suggested  pro- 
ceedings are  simple,  or  that  research  in  this  field 
promises  any  immediate  results.     The  aim  is  merely 


i66  The  Science  of  Religion 

to  point  to  the  principle  involved.  If  by  any  chance 
our  biological  friend  should  discover  the  ethereal 
wave-length  used  by  the  chloroplasts  to  produce 
enzymes  and  sugar  and  starch,  he  might  possibly 
improvise  the  same  wave-length,  by  the  use  of 
which  he  would  be  able  to  convert  much  of  the 
world's  useless  marble  and  chalk  into  sugar.  And 
the  men,  women  and  children  of  the  world  who  are 
toiling  and  struggling  with  the  problem  of  getting 
something  to  eat  would  be  very  much  more  inter- 
ested in  such  a  result  than  in  the  production  of 
mould  in  beef-tea. 

The  problem  of  reproducing  the  ethereal  wave- 
lengths used  by  the  chloroplasts  is  peculiarly  a 
problem  for  physical  scientists,  in  case  that  wave- 
length should  be  discovered  and  measured.  Elec- 
tricity promises  much  in  that  field,  the  ethereal 
wave-lengths  produced  by  different  applications  of 
it  covering  a  very  wide  range.  But  the  shortest 
ethereal  wave-length  so  far  produced  by  electricity, 
which  has  been  discovered  and  measured,  is  a  little 
more  than  one-tenth  of  an  inch  in  length,  and  on 
one  such  wave-length  there  could  ripple  along 
about  fifty  of  the  longest  waves  which  have  been 
found  to  be  emitted  by  vibrating  atoms  and  mole- 
cules. Therefore,  if  electric  oscillations  are  to  be 
employed  in  simulating  the  wave-lengths  which 
the  chloroplasts  use  in  converting  dead  mineral 
matter  into  living  vegetable  matter,  those  oscilla- 
tions must  be  almost  infinitely  quickened  beyond 
any  point  so  far  attained.     At  the  present  time  it 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     167 

seems  that  the  wave-lengths  lying  in  the  vicinity 
of  visible  light  promise  much  more  than  do  those 
produced  by  the  oscillations  of  an  electric  current. 
It  also  seems  that  the  X-rays,  whatever  may  be 
their  length,  closely  approximate  the  length  re- 
quired to  change  mineral  matter  into  vegetable 
matter,  because  they  do  stimulate  such  change. 
Furthermore,  the  X-rays  are  not  transverse,  but 
move  in  straight  lines;  wherefore,  their  influence 
may  not  be  attributed  to  possible  secondary  waves, 
because  waves  which  move  in  straight  lines  produce 
no  secondary  waves. 

The  field  is  large,  and  knowledge  is  very  scarce ; 
but  mineral  matter  becomes  vegetable  matter  in 
the  leaf,  and  nowhere  else,  and  the  little  green 
chloroplasts  accomplish  the  transition  by  playing 
upon  the  atoms  of  carbonic  acid  certain  ethereal 
wave-lengths.  Into  whatever  field  of  speculation 
we  may  go,  we  can  always  return  to  this  fact  for 
a  fresh  start.  The  production  of  the  microscopic 
ferment-bodies  called  "  enzymes  "  is  a  part  of  the 
process,  and  the  carbonic  acid  may  be  transformed 
into  formaldehyde  before  it  becomes  a  true  carbo- 
hydrate, but  all  these  things  occur  in  the  leaf,  and 
can  occur  there  only  under  the  play  of  certain 
wave-lengths  of  ethereal  vibration. 

Further  exploration  of  this  interesting  realm 
must  be  left  to  specialists  in  Physical  Science. 
Such  specialists  have  already  made  excellent  be- 
ginnings, though  apparently  without  grasping  the 
fundamental  principle  involved.     A  general  student 


l68  The  Science  of  Religion 


t>" 


of  all  branches  of  science  can  only  make  general 
suggestions,  calling  attention  to  the  fundamental 
principle,  and  must  leave  the  details  to  others. 

SPIRITUAL   MATTER 

The  pertinent  and  embarrassing  question  pro- 
pounded by  our  hypothetical  friend,  the  biological 
chemist,  has  thus  led  us  quite  far  afield ;  but  we 
will  now  leave  him  to  ponder  the  proffered  sug- 
gestions, while  we  proceed  to  a  consideration  of 
the  subjects  enumerated  in  the  title. 

Let  it  be  freely  conceded  and  understood  that, 
with  no  further  evidence  than  has  already  been 
considered,  it  is  now  going  to  be  assumed  that  there 
is  a  realm  of  matter  finer  than  physical  matter 
interblending  with  the  physical  matter  of  this 
present  physical  world  and  possibly  extending  far 
out  in  space  beyond  it ;  that  man  possesses  duplicate 
interblending  material  bodies,  one  composed  of  the 
coarser  matter  and  one  composed  of  the  finer ;  that 
all  the  entities  of  the  physical  realm  likewise  have 
interblending  ethereal  or  spiritual  counterparts 
composed  of  the  various  grades  of  matter  in  the 
finer  realm,  thereby  introducing  into  that  realm 
the  comparisons  of  heavy  and  light,  coarse  and 
fine,  large  and  small,  hard  and  soft,  far  and  near, 
action  and  inaction,  living  and  non-living,  and  so 
forth;  and  that  men  and  women  and  children 
continue  to  live  in  that  finer  realm  after  the  death 
of  the  physical  body,  in  full  possession  of  their 
individual  intelligences,  the  general  appearance  of 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     169 

their  spiritual  bodies  being  about  the  same  as  the 
general  appearance  of  their  duplicate  physical 
bodies. 

These  things  are  assumed  because  men  and 
women  everywhere  have  believed  them  since  the 
very  dawn  of  human  intelligence;  because  they 
are  the  fundamental  postulates  of  all  religious 
teachings ;  because  wise  men  in  many  different 
countries  and  ages  have  left  records  of  actual 
communication  with  such  a  realm;  because  they 
comport  with  many  known  facts,  and  appeal  to 
conscience  and  reason  as  being  proper;  and  be- 
cause Science  has  made  no  single  discovery,  nor 
any  number  of  discoveries  considered  in  the  aggre- 
gate, which  in  any  remotest  degree  even  tends  to 
prove  them  untrue. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  enumeration  of 
things  upon  which  the  assumption  is  based  does  not 
include  any  of  the  exhaustive  experiments  with 
Hypnotism  and  Spiritualism  conducted  by  the 
English  and  American  Societies  for  Psychical 
Kesearch,  which  experiments  have  convinced  many 
eminent  scientists  of  its  truth.  Neither  does  the 
enumeration  include  the  personal  findings  of  many 
great  men  now  living,  who  have  from  time  to  time 
confided  to  such  as  they  deemed  ready  to  receive 
it  the  information  that  they  have  rationally,  inde- 
pendently and  in  full  possession  of  their  wits, 
come  into  conscious  communication  with  this 
finer  realm  and  its  people.  Such  evidence  would 
not  be  fair,  because  those  great  men  are  not  avail- 


I/O  The  Science  of  Religion 

able  for  cross-examination,  and  the  probable  truth 
or  falsity  of  their  testimony  has  not  yet  been  sub- 
jected to  the  tests  of  time,  changing  conditions 
and  expanding  knowledge.  All  this  mass  of  mod- 
ern testimony  is  out  of  the  case.  All  that  we 
have  heard  and  learned  in  recent  years  about 
"  Spiritualism,"  "  Occultism  "  and  "  Psychic  Phe- 
nomena "  is  stricken  from  the  record.  The  assump- 
tion of  the  existence  of  a  realm  of  spiritual  matter, 
life  and  intelligence  is  rested  upon  conceptions, 
intuitions  and  convictions  which  are  time-tested  and 
everywhere  proclaimed,  rather  than  upon  discov- 
eries which  purport  to  be  new,  and  which  are 
corroborated  by  the  testimony  of  only  a  few  men. 
This  may  seem  a  perilous  position  to  assume ;  but 
the  aggregate  of  human  intelligence  is  so  shrewd 
at  discerning  the  truth,  and  so  prompt  in  discard- 
ing unmixed  error,  that  it  were  better  to  rely  upon 
the  truth  of  world-old  fundamental  beliefs  than  to 
accept  sporadic  evidence  which  has  not  yet  passed 
through  the  crucible  of  Time  nor  been  sufficiently 
subjected  to  the  searching  flame  of  Keason.  If 
such  sporadic  evidence  happens  to  corroborate  the 
world-old  beliefs,  it  thereby  becomes  of  interest ; 
but  until  such  time  as  our  modern  seers  feel  at 
liberty  to  give  the  public  some  details  of  the 
formula  by  which  they  have  proceeded  to  build 
prophetic  wisdom,  their  testimony  should  not  be 
used  in  a  controversy  of  the  kind  being  waged 
here.  It  is  conceded  that  they  could  not  prove 
their  assertions  to  average  men  and  women,  even 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     171 

though  they  be  abundantly  true ;  for  proof  of  the 
existence  of  a  realm  of  spiritual  matter,  life  and 
intelligence  can  come  only  through  seeing  that 
realm,  observing  the  intelligent  arrangement  of 
its  parts  and  functions,  and  communicating  with 
the  people  who  live  there.  Such  proof  is  not 
available  to  average  men  and  women  of  this  age, 
and  there  is  no  recorded  intimation  that  it  ever 
has  been  available  to  average  men  and  women 
in  any  age.  Suppose  an  eagle  living  in  a  valley 
shut  in  by  mountains  should  say  to  a  ground-hog, 
also  living  there  :  "  Beyond  these  mountain  peaks 
there  are  level  plains,  and  undulating  hills,  and 
green  forests,  and  great  rivers,  and  wonderful 
cities  which  are  ablaze  with  light  even  after  the 
sun  has  gone  down."  "No,"  the  ground-hog 
might  say,  "  such  things  cannot  be.  I  have  care- 
fully scrutinized  every  cliff  and  peak  many  times, 
and  I  am  quite  sure  there  is  nothing  beyond  them 
but  empty  space."  "But,"  the  eagle  might  in- 
sist, "  if  you  will  but  soar  with  me  I  will  prove 
what  I  have  said."  Since  the  ground-hog  cannot 
soar,  he  could  not  receive  the  offered  proof,  and 
might  crawl  into  his  hole  in  disgust. 

It  is  not  intended  to  intimate  that  there  is  such 
disparity  between  the  natural  endowments  of  men 
and  women  that  some  may  be  compared  to  soaring 
eagles,  while  others  must  be  compared  to  creeping 
ground-hogs  ;  but  the  rank  and  file  are  eagles  who 
have  never  learned  to  use  their  wings. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  prove 


172  The  Science  of  Religion 

the  existence  of  a  realm  of  spiritual  matter,  life 
and  intelligence.  Its  chief  purpose  is  to  show,  by 
deductions  from  well-known  facts  and  unquestion- 
able scientific  discoveries,  that  the  world  and  every- 
thing in  it  was  integrated  and  evolved,  and  still 
integrates  and  evolves,  because  it  is  acted  upon 
from  without  by  a  great  complex  vibratory  God- 
force,  and  that  there  is  plenty  of  room  among  and 
between  the  ultimate  particles  of  physical  matter 
for  the  vibratory  interplay  of  the  ultimate  particles 
of  a  finer  realm  of  matter,  which  finer  matter  could 
not  possibly  be  detected  by  the  physical  senses  nor 
by  any  instrument  made  of  physical  material.  If 
such  a  Force  and  such  matter  have  been  logically 
and  rationally  deduced,  with  no  evidence  to  the 
contrary,  then  Science  is  out  of  the  controversy, 
and  Religion  occupies  the  field — with  all  its  rich 
treasure  of  ancient  lore  and  sacred  writings,  its 
intuitions  and  deductions  for  the  guidance  of  men 
and  women  over  the  difficult  wTay  of  this  present 
life,  and  its  faith  and  hope  and  love  for  the  edi- 
fication of  the  living  and  the  inspiration  of  the 
dying. 

Having  thus  placed  and  conditioned  the  two 
realms  of  matter,  life  and  intelligence,  we  are 
forced  to  realize,  as  perhaps  we  never  realized 
before,  that  so  long  as  Science  remains  Physical 
Science,  and  so  long  as  Religion  remains  Spiritual 
Religion,  the  two  must  occupy  entirely  different 
fields.  How  foolish,  then,  is  all  this  hurling  of 
invective  against  invective,  and  launching  of  dogma 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     173 

against  dogma  across  the  boundary  line  which 
separates  them ! 

The  next  great  truth  which  obtrudes  itself  upon 
our  rapt  attention,  and  which  produces  a  shock  of 
glad  surprise,  is  the  realization  that  the  spiritual 
realm  is  no  less  material  than  the  physical.  It  is 
merely  composed  of  smaller  particles,  responding 
to  shorter  force- waves  with  more  rapid  vibrations  ; 
and  in  its  aggregate  manifestations  to  sight  and 
touch  attuned  to  sense  it,  it  is  just  as  firm  and  real 
as  are  the  manifestations  of  physical  matter  to  the 
physical  senses. 

If  natural  law  operates  uniformly  throughout  the 
universe,  and  if  like  causes  always  produce  like  ef- 
fects, the  aggregate  spiritual  realm  is  composed  of 
matter  of  varying  degrees  of  comparative  fineness, 
manifesting  in  realms  corresponding  to  the  mineral, 
vegetable,  animal  and  human  kingdoms  of  the  phys- 
ical realm,  the  living  entities  of  which  are  probably 
all  but  one  time  inter  blending  counterparts  of  phys- 
ical entities,  the  physical  realm  being  generally 
conceived  to  be  the  seed-bed  of  individual  life. 
The  downward  pull  of  gravity  would  not  affect  the 
finer  matter  of  the  spiritual  realm  to  the  same  ex- 
tent that  it  affects  physical  matter,  and  it  is  just 
possible  that  it  may  arrange  itself  in  layers,  or 
planes,  with  similar  entities  on  each  plane,  one 
plane  differing  from  another  only  in  point  of  fine- 
ness and  not  in  the  general  character  of  its  entities. 

This  latter  conception  of  different  planes  is  a  lit- 
tle difficult  to  intelligence  accustomed  only  to  the 


174  The  Science  of  Religion 

things  of  the  physical  realm,  but  it  can  neverthe- 
less be  reasoned  out  by  finite  intelligence,  and  such 
arrangement  corresponds  with  the  several  "  planes  * 
of  Spiritualism,  as  well  as  with  the  idea  of  a  "third 
heaven  "  which  Paul  intimates  that  he  visited.  An 
illustration  will  be  attempted  which,  though  crude 
and  omitting  many  of  the  probabilities,  may  help 
us  to  understand  the  fundamental  principle  of  those 
superimposed  planes. 

AN  ILLUSTRATION 

Suppose  that  into  a  jar  or  other  vessel  we  should 
first  put  some  chlorine  gas,  which  is  so  heavy  that 
it  may  be  poured  like  a  liquid ;  and  suppose  we  then 
add  some  carbonic  acid  gas,  then  some  oxygen,  and 
finally  some  hydrogen.  Of  course,  the  hydrogen  is 
lighter  than  air  and  would  not  stay  in  the  vessel, 
unless  the  experiment  should  be  conducted  in  a 
vacuum  ;  but  for  the  sake  of  the  illustration  we 
will  suppose  that  it  would  stay.  These  four  gases, 
each  being  lighter  than  the  other  in  the  order 
named,  would  arrange  themselves  into  four  distinct 
and  clearly  defined  planes.  Now  let  us  suppose 
that  certain  very  small  animals  and  plants  should 
be  built  up  of  the  chlorine,  and  that  they  should 
grow  and  move  about  upon  its  surface.  The  car- 
bonic acid  gas  could  not  be  sensed  by  such  animals, 
although  it  would  be  all  around  them.  And  let  us 
suppose  that  yet  other  small  animals  and  plants 
should  be  built  up  of  the  carbonic  acid  gas,  and 
should  grow  and  move  about  upon  its  surface.    The 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     175 

oxygen  could  not  be  sensed  by  these  animals,  al- 
though it  would  be  all  around  them.  And  suppose 
that  yet  other  small  animals  and  plants  should  be 
built  up  of  the  oxygen,  and  should  grow  and  move 
about  upon  its  surface.  Such  animals  could  not 
sense  the  hydrogen  surrounding  them. 

It  is  again  cautioned  that  this  crude  illustration 
is  not  proposed  [as  showing  the  exact  conditions  in 
the  realm  of  spiritual  matter,  but  it  does  exemplify 
known  principles  upon  which  the  possibility  of  di- 
vision into  planes  may  be  predicated.  If  we  can 
conceive  the  possibility  of  each  of  these  gases  being 
many  kinds  blended  together,  instead  of  one,  and 
of  each  possessing  the  characteristics  of  mixed 
solid,  liquid  and  gaseous,  so  that  their  surfaces 
might  be  configurated,  we  get  an  alluringly  beauti- 
ful picture  of  many  planes  superimposed  upon  each 
other,  each  manifesting  hills,  and  valleys,  and  rivers, 
and  trees  and  plants,  and  each  suited  to  a  particular 
degree  of  animate  life — a  veritable  "  house  of  many 
mansions  "  with  a  place  prepared  for  each  child  of 
nature  according  to  his  fitness  to  inherit. 

If  the  spiritual  realm  is  in  fact  so  divided  into 
planes,  the  lower  ones  are  probably  inhabited  by 
very  "  undesirable  citizens,"  and  if  it  be  conceived 
that  those  lower  planes  occupy  the  vicinity  of  the 
earth's  surface,  with  the  material  of  which  they  are 
composed  in  closest  coordination  with  physical 
matter,  we  can  no  longer  wonder  that  "  evil  in- 
fluences "  are  so  rampant  among  men.  Neither 
can  we  wonder  that  attempts  to  get  into  communi- 


176  The  Science  of  Religion 

cation  with  really  great  and  good  men  and  women 
after  their  death,  through  the  processes  of  Spiritual- 
ism, have  usually  resulted  in  failure  or  disappoint- 
ment ;  nor  can  we  longer  wonder  that  the  spirits 
who  attend  seances  are  so  often  ignorant  and  vi- 
cious, and  prone  to  resort  to  subterfuges  and  false 
impersonations. 

SPIRITUAL   LIFE   AND    INTELLIGENCE 

It  is  obvious  that  on  planes  of  the  kind  here  pic- 
tured there  is  work  to  be  done,  lessons  to  be  learned, 
responsibilities  to  be  discharged,  pictures  to  be 
painted,  music  to  be  written  and  rendered,  songs  to 
be  sung,  and  people  to  be  loved ;  the  higher  and 
happier  activities  here  enumerated  being  confined, 
of  course,  to  the  higher  planes.  On  the  lower 
planes  life  is  beset  with  trials  and  difficulties,  and 
is  conditioned  to  environments  more  terrible  in  the 
abandonment  of  their  depravity  than  mortal  man 
can  imagine.  "  Weeping  and  wailing  and  gnashing 
of  teeth  "  are  about  as  strong  words  as  can  be  used 
to  describe  the  hopelessly  penitent  side  of  life  in 
the  lowest  strata  of  the  spiritual  realm,  and  its 
hopelessly  aggressive  and  defiant  side  probably 
could  not  be  depicted  in  any  terms  which  mortal 
men  could  understand.  Whether  the  wretched 
men  and  women  who  dwell  in  those  lower  regions 
may  yet  evolve,  through  payment  of  the  "last 
farthing  "  and  compliance  with  the  laws  which  they 
have  thitherto  violated,  is  a  question  which  is  vari- 
ously controverted  in  the  ranks  of  Religion  itself, 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     177 

and  renews  the  clash,  already  referred  to,  between 
the  dogma  of  Eternal  Damnation  and  the  concept 
of  a  university  of  law.  Let  us  trust  that  of  such 
as  these  were  "  the  spirits  in  prison "  to  whom 
Peter  tells  us  Jesus  preached,  and  that  His  message 
was  one  of  love  and  hope. 

CHILDREN   OF   HEAVEN 

Since  children  are  constantly  dying  here  in  the 
physical  realm  ;  and  since  their  spiritual  bodies, 
being  counterparts  of  their  physical  bodies,  must 
still  be  children  on  the  spiritual  planes  to  which 
they  go,  innocent,  ignorant  and  helpless,  needing 
loving  hands  to  care  for  them  and  loving  arms  to 
cuddle  them ;  the  one  activity  alone  of  caring  for 
the  children  and  bringing  them  up  to  manhood  and 
womanhood  must  require  the  services  of  a  vast 
number  of  people  on  the  higher  planes.  But 
service  amid  the  happy  and  exalted  conditions  of 
those  planes,  where  men  and  women  have  learned 
the  great  secret  that  happiness  can  be  attained  only 
through  service  to  others,  must  be  considered  such 
a  glorious  privilege  !  Many  children,  of  course, 
find  mothers  and  other  loving  kinspeople  ready, 
able  and  willing  to  care  for  them,  but  in  the 
majority  of  cases  there  probably  is  no  one  both 
willing  and  able  among  the  little  stranger's  kins- 
people,  and  it  must  therefore  go  into  other  care. 

There  are  numerous  Biblical  references  to  chil- 
dren in  the  spiritual  realm,  and  one  of  the  prophets 
said  of  the  heavenly  city  that  the  children  played 


178  The  Science  of  Religion 

in  its  streets.  Certainly  such  children  are  not  waifs 
and  outcasts  in  that  glorious  realm  of  abounding 
love.  Surely  there  are  those  who  love  them,  and 
cuddle  them,  and  train  them. 

This  may  come  to  the  notice  of  some  disconsolate 
mother  who  has  recently  kissed  two  cold  chubby 
hands  for  the  last  time,  and  brushed  into  place 
upon  a  lifeless  little  forehead  the  baby  curls  which 
were  once  her  joy  and  delight ;  and  it  may  be  that 
upon  reading  it  her  conscience  and  heaven-born 
intuition  shall  approve  it,  so  that  her  tears  of 
sorrow  shall  be  washed  away  by  tears  of  gladness 
through  which  she  shall  look  up  and  thank  God 
that  there  are  glorified  mother-hearts  and  mother- 
hands  in  heaven.  She  did  not  want  her  baby  to  be 
an  angel  with  wings  and  a  golden  harp.  She  pre- 
ferred to  think  of  it  as  her  own  sweet  baby  boy  or 
girl.  What  has  here  been  said  may  help  her  to 
realize  that  her  preference  lays  hold  of  the  truth, 
and  that  her  baby  went  into  the  care  of  some  sweet 
and  gentle  woman  whose  love  and  kindness  pass 
human  understanding,  in  whose  mind  there  is  no 
lodgment  for  impure  thoughts,  envy,  jealousy,  or 
anger,  and  who  will  keep  and  care  for  that  baby 
against  the  time  when  its  now  broken-hearted 
mother  shall  join  it  in  the  realm  of  which  the  Lord 
God  Himself  is  the  glorious  and  unfailing  light. 

DEATH 

Since  both  the  physical  and  spiritual  bodies  of 
a  man  are  apparently  operated  and  controlled  by  a 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     179 

separate  ego,  or  soul,  which  seems  to  use  them 
merely  as  its  instruments  of  expression,  and  which 
passes  away  with  the  spiritual  body  at  the  death 
of  the  physical,  it  becomes  apparent  that  the 
individual  man  or  woman  is  neither  better  nor 
worse  immediately  after  the  death  of  the  physical 
body  than  immediately  before.  Since  this  soul- 
entity  is  the  seat  of  wisdom,  the  man  recently 
entered  into  independent  life  in  the  spiritual  realm 
would  know  nothing  more  than  he  knew  in  the 
physical  body,  excepting  only  such  small  knowledge 
as  he  might  have  gained  in  making  the  transition. 
And  the  amount  of  knowledge  gained  in  the  actual 
experience  of  death  must  usually  be  nil,  because 
the  average  human  being  is  totally  unconscious  of 
what  is  transpiring  during  this  rather  important 
process.  He  has  never  learned  to  use  the  organs  of 
sense  of  his  spiritual  body,  and  is  therefore  uncon- 
scious of  things  in  the  spiritual  realm.  For  vary- 
ing lengths  of  time  before  the  actual  separation  of 
the  two  bodies,  his  physical  organs  of  sense  are 
"  out  of  commission,"  and  he  is  therefore  uncon- 
scious of  things  in  the  physical  realm.  In  other 
words,  he  is  in  the  same  condition  as  the  man 
pictured  in  a  previous  chapter  as  having  only  the 
two  senses  of  sight  and  hearing,  and  having  his 
eyes  bandaged  and  his  ears  stopped. 

There  are  some  notable  exceptions  to  this  general 
rule  of  unconsciousness  during  the  event  of  death. 
Men  and  women  sometimes  live  long  lives  of  purity 
and  morality,  and  thereby  develop  their  spiritual 


180  The  Science  of  Religion 

organs  of  sense  to  a  point  at  which  intuition  be- 
comes almost  actual  knowledge.  Then  "  senile 
debility,"  or  some  slowly  wasting  disease,  wears 
away  the  tissues  of  the  physical  body  to  a  point  at 
which  it  is  but  a  "  veil "  separating  the  spiritual 
realm  from  the  spiritual  senses.  In  such  a  case  the 
near  approach  of  death  is  usually  heralded  by  a 
marked  "damping"  of  the  physical  senses.  The 
surface  of  the  body  grows  cold,  and  the  sense  of 
touch  becomes  sluggish.  The  sense  of  hearing 
grows  dull,  and  the  sense  of  sight  becomes  dim. 
But  the  subject  is  often  in  full  possession  of  his 
wits ;  he  asks  his  friends  to  speak  louder,  and 
complains  of  darkness  even  at  noonday.  At  just 
this  stage  the  spiritual  eyes  sometimes  peer  through 
the  "  veil,"  and  the  spiritual  ears  pick  up  the  sounds 
from  the  spiritual  plane.  The  dying  man  is  then 
no  longer  in  darkness,  but  proclaims  the  breaking 
of  a  great  flood  of  light  by  which  he  discerns  some 
of  the  outlines  of  the  splendid  world  which  he  is 
approaching,  and  sometimes  recognizes  the  forms 
of  friends  who  have  thither  preceded  him.  Cases 
of  this  kind  have  either  come  under  the  immediate 
observation  of  all  of  us,  or  else  have  been  reported 
to  us  by  those  who  did  actually  observe  them. 

Some  day  the  silver  cord  will  break, 
And  I  no  more  as  now  shall  sing  ; 

But,  oh,  the  joy  when  I  awake 
Within  the  palace  of  the  King  ! 

When  the  venerable  and  saintly  Fanny  Crosby 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     181 

wrote  the  lines  just  quoted,  she  propounded  a  wis- 
dom which  is  something  other  than  a  mere  product 
of  physical  matter.  Such  sentiments  are  no  part 
of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  carbon,  nitrogen,  phosphorus, 
sulphur  and  iron.  Her  faith  and  intuition  had 
reached  a  stage  so  closely  approaching  actual 
knowledge  that  she  thus  briefly  stated  the  most 
important  scientific  fact  in  the  world. 

JUST  THE  OLD  TIME  KELIGION 

Considered  singly,  the  different  statements  and 
deductions  of  this  chapter  concerning  spiritual 
matter,  life  and  intelligence,  may  seem  strange 
and  weird.  But  considered  in  the  aggregate,  they 
are  merely  "  The  Old  Time  Keligion."  Men  and 
women  have  not  been  accustomed  to  talk  and 
think  Eeligion  in  scientific  terms.  While  they 
have  believed  these  things  all  the  while,  in  a  gen- 
eral sort  of  way,  it  has  not  usually  occurred  to 
them  that  the  spiritual  realm,  in  which  individuals 
live  and  move  about,  must  be  a  material  realm, 
occupying  space  and  havi rig  parts.  ISTot  being  able 
to  sense  such  a  realm,  nor  to  see  any  material  en- 
tity withdraw  from  their  dying  friends  ;  and  being 
unwilling  to  admit  in  the  face  of  Intuition,  Faith, 
Hope  and  Keligion  that  death  ends  all ;  they  have 
loosely  entertained  a  half-formed  idea  that  a  spirit 
is  a  kind  of  a  filmy  something  made  of  nothing. 
Such  a  conception  will  not  stand  the  light  of  rea- 
son, and  so  it  is  that  many  good  men  and  women 
who  have  dared  to  reason  have  become  doubters, 


182  The  Science  of  Religion 

or  worse.  The  anomalous  spiritual  beings  thus 
loosely  conceived  of  by  religionists  have  been  vari- 
ously represented  as  having  wings  and  flying 
through  the  celestial  atmosphere ;  as  wearing 
bejewelled  crowns ;  as  twanging  harps  and  singing 
hozannas;  as  enjoying  everlasting  rest  and  inac- 
tion ;  as  forever  bowing  before  a  great  white 
throne  and  lauding  its  occupant;  and  as  march- 
ing about  over  the  streets  of  a  city  paved  with 
gold.  None  of  these  occupations  appeal  very 
strongly  to  normal  men  and  women,  but  they  are 
so  far  better  than  being  forever  barbecued  in  a 
caldron  of  lire  and  sulphur  that  they  have  never- 
theless been  striven  for  in  various  ways  and  with 
varying  degrees  of  zeal. 

And  yet,  so  great  is  the  ability  of  human  reason 
and  intuition  to  discern  the  truth,  that,  despite  all 
these  imaginative  and  allegorical  frills  and  furbe- 
lows which  have  been  from  time  to  time  draped 
about  the  fundamental  fact  of  life  after  death,  men 
and  women  have  intuitively  hoped,  and  dreamed, 
and  believed  that  the  spiritual  realm  is  a  place 
where  old  friends  meet,  where  severed  ties  are 
mended,  where  love  comes  into  its  own,  and  where 
people  will  have  an  opportunity  to  do  the  work 
and  learn  the  things  which  they  wanted  to  do  and 
learn  here — a  glorious  land  where  happy  dreams 
come  true,  where  ideals  become  realities,  and  hopes 
materialize. 

Keligion  is  thus  glorified  and  exalted  by  being 
expressed  in  rational  scientific  terms.     How  truly 


Spiritual  Matter,  Life  and  Intelligence     183 

must  Paul  have  spoken  when  he  said  man  had  not 
sensed,  nor  had  his  mind  even  imagined,  the  great 
and  good  things  which  God  has  prepared  for  those 
who  obey  His  laws ! 


XVI 
MOEALITY 

BY  a  process  of  gathering  facts  and  reasoning 
from  them,  and  by  adopting  the  fundamental 
postulate  of  Keligion  that  there  is  a  realm 
of  matter,  life  and  intelligence  finer  than  the  phys- 
ical realm,  we  have  been  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
man  is  a  combination  of  two  interblending  ma- 
terial bodies,  both  operated  and  controlled  by  some 
kind  of  an  intelligent  ego,  soul,  or  mind.  We 
have  also  hastily  observed  that  this  intelligent  ego 
exercises  a  powerful  influence,  for  weal  or  woe, 
over  the  bodies  which  it  operates. 

MIND 

Just  what  the  soul  or  mind  is,  we  do  not  know. 
But  we  do  know  that  its  states,  phases  and  condi- 
tions determine,  in  large  measure,  the  condition  of 
its  physical  body.  We  know  that  it  can  con- 
sciously transmit  messages  from  the  brain  over  cer- 
tain nerves  to  the  different  parts  of  the  body,  just 
as  men  transmit  messages  over  telephone  and  tele- 
graph wires,  and  that  it  employs  for  this  purpose 
a  vibratory  force  called  "  nervous  energy  "  which 
is  very  closely  related  to  magnetism  and  electric- 
ity. We  know  that  it  unconsciously,  or  subcon- 
sciously, sends  a  vast  number  of  messages  to  vari- 

184 


Morality  185 

ous  organs  of  the  body,  and  that  these  uncon- 
sciously transmitted  messages  also  travel  along 
certain  other  nerves  in  the  form  of  nervous  energy. 
It  consciously  transmits  a  message  to  the  muscle 
controlling  a  finger,  instructing  it  to  move.  It  also 
unconsciously  sends  out  the  thousands  of  messages 
directing  the  heart  to  beat,  the  muscles  of  the  chest 
to  move,  the  liver  and  kidneys  to  act,  etc.,  etc.  If 
the  trunk  nerve  leading  to  any  muscle  or  organ  be 
severed,  that  muscle  or  organ,  be  its  action  of 
the  voluntary  or  the  involuntary  kind,  is  immedi- 
ately paralyzed  and  its  functions  cease. 

We  have  never  been  able  to  discover  the  subtle 
difference  between  the  messages  transmitted  con- 
sciously and  those  transmitted  unconsciously,  ex- 
cepting only  that  the  messages  which  are  trans- 
mitted unconsciously  are  sent  from  the  lowest  part 
of  the  brain,  consisting  of  the  medulla  oblongata 
and  the  base  of  the  cerebellum,  while  the  messages 
that  are  consciously  transmitted  are  sent  from  the 
higher  and  more  frontal  parts  of  the  brain.  Con- 
sciousness and  Intelligence  dwell  in  the  higher  and 
more  frontal  parts  of  the  brain,  and  seem  to  dictate 
the  messages  sent  out  from  those  points,  while  the 
subconscious  part  of  the  mind,  or  soul,  occupies 
the  rear  and  nether  portions,  and  dictates  the  mes- 
sages which  are  sent  from  those  stations.  It  is  all 
very  mystifying  ;  but  the  division  of  labour  is  nev- 
ertheless wise,  for  it  leaves  the  greater  portion  of 
the  brain  free  to  think,  and  learn,  and  attend  to 
the  many  voluntary  activities  of  life. 


]86  The  Science  of  Religion 

STATES  OF  MIND 

And  yet  the  conditions  of  the  conscious,  intelli- 
gent part  of  the  mind  exercise  a  marked  influence 
over  the  subconscious,  sub-intelligent  part.  The 
smell  of  food  affects  the  flow  of  saliva  and  digestive 
fluids ;  fear  and  anger  so  modify  the  beatings  of 
the  heart  as  to  blanch  or  flush  the  face ;  and  con- 
stant worry  and  dread  so  affect  the  functions  of  the 
kidneys  as  to  produce  Bright's  Disease.  Some- 
where in  this  wonderfully  delicate  machinery  the 
wires  are  so  strung,  or  the  batteries  so  placed,  that 
the  passage  of  currents  of  nervous  energy  over  the 
nerves  of  the  conscious  and  voluntary  system  pro- 
duces "  induced  currents  "  in  the  nerves  of  the  un- 
conscious and  involuntary  system,  in  something  like 
the  same  manner  as  the  passage  of  a  current  of 
electricity  along  a  wire  induces  a  current  in  a  par- 
allel wire,  or  as  the  bringing  of  a  body  charged 
with  electricity  into  the  presence  of  another  body 
induces  a  charge  in  the  latter. 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  MORALITY 

And  we  here  come  to  another  ultimate — another 
one  of  those  things  which  just  are,  and  that  is  all 
we  know  about  them.  Such  states  of  mind  as 
purity  of  thought,  sense  of  innocence,  honesty  and 
benevolence  of  purpose,  kindness,  humility,  gentle- 
ness and  love,  send  through  the  two  bodies  of  the 
individual  vibratory  impulses  of  such  wave-lengths 
and  amplitudes  as  make  for  the  refining  and  well- 
being  of  those  bodies.     These  vibratory  rates  har- 


Morality  187 

monize  with  the  all-pervading  force- waves,  and  give 
an  added  impulse  to  their  evolutionary  and  refining 
influence.  But  such  states  of  mind  as  impurity  of 
thought,  sense  of  guilt,  malevolence  of  purpose,  un- 
kind feeling,  vanity,  anger,  jealousy,  fear  and  hate, 
send  through  the  two  bodies  vibratory  impulses  of 
such  wave-lengths  and  amplitudes  as  make  for  the 
coarsening  and  ill-being  of  those  bodies.  These 
last  mentioned  vibratory  rates  do  not  harmonize 
with  the  vibratory  rates  of  the  all-pervading  wave- 
force,  but  produce  discords  which  defeat  their  evo- 
lutionary and  refining  influences  and  tend  to  undo 
the  work  already  done.  Therefore,  the  "  workers 
of  iniquity "  are  not  kept  out  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  by  any  arbitrary  ruling,  nor  by  any  angel 
with  drawn  sword,  but  because  they  are  inherently 
unable  to  enter  and  unfit  to  occupy. 

Many  good  people,  intuitively  sensing  the  funda- 
mentals of  the  great  law  here  immediately  under 
consideration,  have  attempted  to  carry  its  applica- 
tion further  than  the  known  facts  would  seem  to 
warrant,  and  have  assumed  that  all  physical  ail- 
ments have  their  source  in  the  mind — that  they  are 
but  errors  of  thought.  That  this  conception  is  cor- 
rect in  many  instances,  there  is  no  slightest  room 
for  doubt.  That  it  is  correct  in  all  instances,  the 
known  facts  seem  to  controvert.  Heart  disease 
may  be,  and  often  is,  caused  by  mental  conditions ; 
but  it  is  also  often  produced  by  the  entry  into  the 
body  of  the  germs  of  typhoid  fever,  and  by  other 
causes  equally  as  distinct  from  mental  processes. 


188  The  Science  of  Religion 

The  same  things  may  be  said  with  equal  truth  con- 
cerning many  other  physical  ailments.  The  germs 
of  diphtheria  and  measles  enter  and  poison  the  bodies 
of  children  too  young  to  have  formed  habits  of 
wrong  thinking,  while  malaria  and  smallpox  and 
yellow  fever  attack  the  saint  and  the  sinner  with 
equal  virulence.  The  physical  bodies  of  moral 
lepers  are  often  remarkably  healthy — and  brutally 
coarse  in  form  and  fibre  ;  while  the  physical  bodies 
of  the  most  saintly  people  are  not  infrequently  frail 
and  pain-racked — and  remarkably  refined  in  form 
and  fibre. 

It  therefore  seems  that  while  wrong  thoughts 
and  motives  may  produce  physical  disease,  they  do 
not  always  have  that  effect ;  and  that  while  phys- 
ical disease  may  come  by  reason  of  wrong  thoughts 
and  motives,  it  is  not  always  attributable  to  that 
cause.  Maybe  the  mind  of  man  shall  some  time 
evolve  to  a  state  at  which  it  will  be  able  to  regu- 
late all  the  internal  affairs  of  the  physical  body, 
and  also  to  repel  the  invasion  of  germs  and  poisons 
of  disease  which  attack  it  from  without;  but  at 
present  it  has  not  attained  to  that  ideal  condition, 
and  we  must  here  deal  with  the  facts  as  they  actu- 
ally exist. 

But  the  wrong  thoughts,  motives  and  mental 
states  which  have  been  enumerated  always  register 
their  effects  upon  the  two  bodies,  and  those  effects, 
while  not  always  the  same,  are  always  harmful. 
They  may  be  disruptive  in  some  cases,  but  they  are 
always  coarsening,  degrading  and  devolutionary, 


Morality  189 

driving  the  individual  backward  on  the  evolution- 
ary way  over  which  he  has  come  to  the  soul-in- 
spired estate  of  man,  and  unfitting  him  for  habita- 
tion of  the  mansions  which  have  been  prepared  for 
him.  And  the  right  thoughts,  motives  and  mental 
states  which  have  been  enumerated  also  always 
register  their  effects  upon  the  two  bodies,  and  those 
effects,  while  not  always  the  same,  are  always 
beneficial.  They  may  be  literally  constructive  in 
some  cases,  but  they  are  always  refining,  uplifting 
and  evolutionary,  impelling  the  individual  forward 
and  better  fitting  him  for  citizenship  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven. 

PHILANTHROPY 

It  may  occur  to  the  thoughtful  and  analytical 
reader  that  in  this  scheme  of  "  scientific  morality  " 
all  of  charity  and  benevolence  and  philanthropy 
must  go  for  naught.  A  full  treatment  of  this  phase 
of  the  subject  would  require  considerably  more 
time  and  space  than  can  be  devoted  to  it  here,  but 
one  illustration  will  be  given  which  will  lay  bare 
the  fundamental  principle.  In  the  illustration  the 
lights  and  shadows  will  be  brought  out  in  sharp 
contrast,  but  the  principle  runs  through  all  degrees  of 
shading.  Suppose  a  well-to-do  man  who  could  enter 
his  home  on  a  cold  evening,  eat  a  bountiful  dinner, 
retire  to  a  cozy  room  to  read  and  smoke,  and  finally 
lay  himself  down  on  a  warm  and  comfortable  bed 
to  sleep;  all  the  while  unheeding  the  fact,  well 
known  to  him,  that  a  sick  widow  and  her  three 


190  The  Science  of  Religion 

little  children,  living  in  a  hovel  of  a  house  just 
around  the  corner,  had  no  food,  no  fuel,  and  no 
sufficient  clothing. 

There  would  be  something  so  radically  wrong 
with  such  a  man  that  any  normal  person  would  ob- 
serve it  at  a  glance  of  the  situation.  And  that 
"  something  wrong  "  would  be  one  or  both  of  two 
things  :  he  would  be  either  grossly  selfish,  or  else 
carelessly  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  others — or 
both.  In  either  case  his  mental  state  or  condition 
would  be  in  violation  of  every  principle  of  pity, 
compassion,  mercy,  love  and  altruism,  and  would 
generate  and  transmit  to  every  fibre  and  atom  of 
his  body  vibratory  streams  of  nervous  energy  in 
jangling  discord  with  the  natural  vibratory  force 
which  tends  to  refine  men  and  make  them  God- 
like. The  people  and  the  conditions  in  this  illus- 
tration may  be  changed  in  an  almost  infinite  num- 
ber of  ways,  but  so  long  as  we  maintain  the 
relation  of  those  who  need  and  those  who  know 
and  are  able  to  help,  the  principle  remains  the  same, 
whether  the  need  be  of  food  or  of  kind  words. 

CODES  AND  CREEDS 

This  idea  of  reducing  morality  to  a  scientific 
proposition  of  force  acting  upon  matter  will  be 
new  to  many  readers,  but  it  fits  in  snugly  with  the 
known  facts  and  falls  exactly  in  line  with  the 
major  hypotheses  upon  which  this  book  is  founded. 
Moreover,  it  appeals  to  Eeason,  and  is  sanctioned 
by  Conscience.     It  will  be  observed  that  it  deals 


Morality  191 

altogether  with  things  which  are  right  or  wrong  in 
their  inherent  nature,  and  altogether  ignores  those 
things  which  are  merely  commanded  or  prohibited 
in  codes  and  creeds.  Codes  and  creeds  command 
the  doing  of  many  inherently  right  things,  and 
prohibit  the  doing  of  many  inherently  wrong 
things;  but  the  mere  fact  that  a  thing  is  com- 
manded or  prohibited  does  not  make  it  right  or 
wrong.  However,  there  is  one  phase  of  this  sub- 
ject of  codes  and  creeds  which  cannot  be  neglected. 
Many  people  have  been  so  taught  and  environed 
that  they  depend  very  largely  upon  codes  and 
creeds  for  their  moral  standards,  and  when  they 
violate  them,  believing  that  they  are  thereby  doing 
wrong,  there  comes  into  their  consciousness  a  sense 
of  guilt  which  is  degrading  and  devolutionary, 
without  reference  to  whether  or  not  the  act  was 
inherently  wrong.  Paul  understood  this  problem 
in  scientific  psychology  quite  well.  He  said  that,  so 
far  as  he  was  personally  concerned,  he  did  not  be- 
lieve it  wrong  to  drink  wine  in  moderation,  nor  to 
eat  meat  which  had  been  sacrificed  to  idols,  and 
that  he  could  do  these  things  without  sin ;  but  that 
many  people  believed  it  to  be  wrong  to  drink  wine, 
or  to  eat  meat  which  had  been  sacrificed  to  idols, 
and  if  he  should  set  the  example  they  might  follow 
it  against  their  consciences  and  thereby  commit  sin. 

WRONG  IS  ALWAYS  WRONG 

There  is  another  phase  of  this  great  subject  of 
morality  which  demands  attention.     Wrong  is  al- 


192  The  Science  of  Religion 

ways  wrong,  and  is  always  harmful,  regardless  of 
the  belief  or  ignorance  of  the  wrong-doer.  Fire 
burns  the  hand  of  the  innocent  and  ignorant  child 
just  the  same  as  it  burns  the  hand  of  the  experienced 
adult.  Poison  swallowed  by  mistake  kills  just  as 
surely  and  just  as  swiftly  as  if  swallowed  with 
suicidal  intent.  This  idea  may  also  seem  new,  and 
even  harsh,  to  many  good  people ;  but  as  a  matter 
of  fact  it  is  so  universally  sensed  and  recognized 
that  in  the  affairs  of  men  it  has  crystallized  into  the 
world-wide  legal  maxim,  "  Ignorance  of  law  excuses 
no  man." 

It  has  sometimes  been  supposed  that  Jesus  pro- 
claimed a  principle  antagonistic  to  this  conception 
of  responsibility  for  ignorant  violation  of  moral 
laws,  and  His  reference  to  the  servant  who  knew 
his  master's  will,  and  to  the  other  who  did  not 
know  it,  has  been  often  cited  to  show  that  in  mat- 
ters of  morality  ignorance  of  law  is  a  complete 
defense.  He  said :  "  The  servant  who  knoweth  his 
master's  will,  and  doeth  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with 
many  stripes ;  but  the  servant  who  knoweth  not  his 
master's  will,  and  doeth  it  not,  shall  be  beaten  with 
few  stripes."  It  will  be  noted  He  did  not  say  that 
the  ignorant  servant  would  be  vindicated  on  account 
of  his  ignorance,  but  that  he  should  also  be  beaten, 
his  ignorance  availing  only  to  reduce  the  degree  of 
his  punishment.  If  a  man  ignorantly  violates  a 
moral  principle,  he  thereby  injures  himself.  A 
drunken  debauch,  or  a  self-abandonment  to  lust 
and  sensuality,  are  injurious  and  debasing,  regard- 


Morality  193 

less  of  the  actor's  ignorance  of  the  wrong  he  is 
committing,  and  for  these  things  he  shall  be  beaten 
with  the  number  of  "  stripes  "  which  the  moral  law 
of  nature  prescribes  as  a  penalty  for  them.  The 
attitude  or  phase  of  mind  which  prompts  him  to 
do  such  things  is  wrong,  regardless  of  his  ignorance 
of  moral  principles,  and  this  wrong  mental  state 
transmits  coarsening  and  devolutionary  forces  to  his 
entire  being.  But  if  he  should  do  these  things  in 
spite  of  knowledge  that  they  are  wrong,  then  there 
would  come  into  his  consciousness  a  sense  of  guilt 
and  self-condemnation,  which  is  also  degrading 
and  destructive,  and  which  would  inflict  many 
"  stripes "  in  addition  to  those  inflicted  by  the 
mental  attitude  which  prompted  the  wrong-doing 
in  the  first  instance. 

It  may  seem,  at  first  thought,  that  a  law  which 
imposes  penalties  upon  those  who  ignorantly  violate 
it  is  a  harsh  law ;  but  all  human  laws  are  of  that 
kind,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that 
ignorance  of  natural  laws  is  responsible  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  suffering  and  misery  of  the 
human  race.  Man  is  confronted  in  life  by  a  laby- 
rinth of  ways,  some  of  them  right,  and  some  of 
them  wrong.  If  he  chooses  a  wrong  way,  either 
ignorantly  or  knowingly,  he  sooner  or  later  finds 
himself  in  a  bramble-patch  or  a  bog,  and  may 
thereby  be  made  to  realize  the  mistake  or  folly  of 
his  choice.  It  is  then  incumbent  upon  him  to  de- 
cide whether  he  will  remain  in  the  bramble-patch 
or  the  bog,  or  whether  he  will  retrace  his  steps  and 


194  The  Science  of  Religion 

get  on  the  right  way.  If  his  choice  of  the  wrong 
way  be  a  mere  mistake,  he  is  usually  prompt  in  re- 
tracing his  steps  and  diligent  in  repairing  the  in- 
jury he  has  sustained.  But  if  his  choice  of  the 
wrong  way  be  with  knowledge  that  it  is  wrong,  he 
is  slower  in  returning,  and  his  initial  injuries  be- 
come infected  with  the  poisons  of  the  realm  into 
which  he  has  gone.  In  either  case,  however,  he 
has  learned  something.  If  he  chose  the  wrong 
way  by  mistake,  he  has  learned  that  such  ways 
are  wrong ;  and  if  he  chose  it  knowing  it  to  be 
wrong,  he  has  learned  that  wrong  ways  lead  to 
disaster.  These  things  are  lessons  in  the  School  of 
Experience,  and  some  people  can  be  educated  in  no 
other.  Since  knowledge  of  one's  being  and  well- 
being  is  necessary  to  that  full  growth  and  develop- 
ment requisite  to  citizenship  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  these  lessons  may  be  put  to  good  use.  If 
the  man  who  ignorantly  chooses  the  wrong  way 
should  be  spared  the  penalties  on  account  of  his 
ignorance,  he  might  spend  his  entire  life  in  pur- 
poseless wandering;  but  the  bramble-patches  and 
the  bogs  reveal  his  error  while  there  is  yet  time 
and  opportunity  to  return  to  the  right  way  and 
make  heavenward  progress. 

Therefore,  the  law  which  at  first  thought  seemed 
harsh  is  really  a  benevolent  and  corrective  law, 
tending  to  keep  men  upon  the  way  which  leads 
onward  and  upward  to  light  and  life  and  happi- 
ness. 

Morality  is  thus  reduced  to  an  exact  science,  and 


Morality  1 95 

the  laws  upon  which  it  is  based  are  brought  within 
the  range  of  human  comprehension.  And  it  is  all 
wrought  out  of  the  fundamental  proposition  that 
matter  is  acted  upon  and  refined  or  coarsened  by 
force  playing  upon  it  from  without.  It  is  all  very 
wonderful  and  \ery  beautiful,  and  when  we  once 
comprehend  its  fundamentals,  we  are  able  the  more 
fully  to  appreciate  the  possibilities  lying  before 
the  soul-inspired  free  moral  agent  equipped  with 
everything  necessary  to  enable  him  to  work  out 
his  own  salvation  and  become  inherently  worthy 
of  immortality. 


XVII 
SIN  AND  KEDEMPTION 

MAN  early  realized  that  Nature  keeps 
books  against  him,  and  that  in  some 
mysterious  way  he  is  personally  re- 
sponsible for  his  acts.  He  found  that  "  he  who 
lives  by  the  sword  shall  die  by  the  sword,"  and 
that  "  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also 
reap."  Then  there  developed  something  within  his 
mental  equipment  which  he  calls  "  Conscience," 
which  constantly  reminds  him  of  his  misdeeds  and 
shortcomings  and  warns  him  of  penalties  entailed. 
He  found  that  every  time  he  wronged  his  neigh- 
bour a  sense  of  guilt  fastened  itself  upon  him, 
and  that  indulgence  of  greed,  sensuality,  lust, 
hate  and  anger  sowed  the  seeds  of  discord  and 
produced  a  crop  of  weeds  and  tares  which  tended 
to  choke  those  higher  impulses  that  make  for 
happiness  and  well-being. 

From  these  beginnings  he  worked  out  a  moral 
code  consisting  largely  of  inhibitions.  Later  on  he 
realized  that  his  moral  duties  and  obligations  were 
not  all  negative,  but  that  some  measure  of  service 
was  demanded  of  him ;  and  then  he  enlarged  his 
moral  code  accordingly,  and  is  till  enlarging  it 
as  he  comprehends  his  duties  and  responsibilities 
more  clearly. 

196 


Sin  and  Redemption  197 

But  notwithstanding  the  inhibitions  and  com- 
mands of  this  moral  code,  men  found  that  they 
continued  to  do  many  things  they  ought  not  to 
have  done,  and  did  not  many  of  the  things  they 
ought  to  have  done.  Alluring  temptations  be- 
guiled them,  the  sharp  passions  of  unguarded  mo- 
ments were  stumbling-blocks,  and  when  they 
willed  to  do  good  evil  was  present  with  them. 

SACRIFICE  FOE  SIN 

Kealizing,  then,  that  certain  kinds  of  conduct 
were  wrong,  and  invoked  penalties  which  must  be 
paid  in  full  some  time,  somewhere,  in  the  currency 
of  some  realm  ;  and  finding  that  it  was  exceeding^ 
difficult  to  leave  off  wrong-doing;  man  faced  a 
very  disquieting  situation.  There  seemed  to  be 
just  two  courses  open  to  him.  He  could  follow 
the  difficult  path  of  rectitude  and  morality,  thus 
incurring  no  penalties;  or  he  could  do  his  dance 
and  pay  the  fiddler.  He  naturally  sought  dili- 
gently for  some  third  way,  and  finally  hewed  one 
out  through  the  jungle.  The  scheme  he  worked 
out,  and  the  processes  of  reasoning  employed  in 
evolving  it,  were  very  ingenuous.  Kealizing  that 
sin  entailed  a  penalty  of  suffering,  and  that  only  a 
certain  amount  of  suffering  could  come  as  a  penalty 
for  a  certain  sin,  he  concluded  to  have  some  one 
else  suffer  in  his  stead.  This  "  some  one  else  "  was 
usually  a  goat  or  some  other  animal,  but  was  some- 
times a  human  being.  Death  being  the  most  ter- 
rible penalty  he  could  conceive  of,  and  in  order 


198  The  Science  of  Religion 

that  there  might  be  no  underestimate  of  the 
amount  of  suffering  necessary  to  pay  the  penalty  for 
his  sin,  the  victim  was  always  killed  ;  and,  in  order 
to  be  entirely  unselfish  in  the  transaction,  its  dead 
body  was  presented  to  God  in  the  form  of  a  sacrifice. 

This  first  more  or  less  well-reasoned  idea  of  vi- 
carious atonement  developed  into  various  forms, 
with  many  modifications,  until  the  original  reason 
and  purpose  of  it  were  largely  lost  sight  of,  and  it 
became  a  mere  ritualistic  ceremony  passively  ac- 
cepted as  a  method  of  obtaining  forgiveness  of  sins. 
The  prospect  of  an  easy  and  unscathed  escape  from 
the  penalties  of  sin  is  very  enticing,  and  the  men 
charged  with  the  duty  of  shaping  and  administering 
the  policies  of  Religion  have  made  the  most  of  it. 
It  forms  a  part  of  nearly  every  religious  system  in 
the  world.  In  the  Christian  Keligion  there  is  no 
longer  any  slaughtering  of  bulls  and  goats  as  a  sac- 
rifice for  sin,  but  it  promises  immunity  from  the 
penalties  of  sin  through  the  sacrifice  of  its  Founder, 
the  theory  being  that  He  was  so  good  and  so  great 
that  His  death  was  sufficient  to  relieve  all  men  for  all 
time  from  the  consequences  of  their  sins,  if  they  will 
only  accept  a  share  in  the  sacrifice  made  by  Him. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  attack 
any  cherished  religious  creed,  but  we  are  here  con- 
sidering Religion  from  a  scientific  standpoint,  and 
in  order  to  be  consistent  we  must  apply  the  same 
tests  to  every  question  which  it  becomes  necessary 
to  consider.  The  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement 
is  a  beautiful  doctrine,  containing  much  that  ap- 


Sin  and  Redemption  199 

peals  to  the  loftier  natures  of  men  and  women,  and 
having  many  parallels  in  every-day  life.  Like  every 
other  tenet  which  has  ever  come  into  wide  popu- 
larity, it  has  an  element  of  truth  in  it ;  but  in  the 
very  nature  of  things  it  would  indeed  be  strange  if 
it  had  not  been  overdone.  While  it  has  in  it  an 
element  of  truth,  yet  the  generally  accepted  idea 
that  it  offers  an  immediate  and  ever  ready  escape 
from  the  penalties  of  sin  does  not  fit  very  well  into 
a  conception  of  things  containing  the  postulate  that 
a  man's  actions  and  thoughts  register  their  effects 
upon  his  individual  being,  giving  him  a  certain  high 
or  low  degree  of  inherent  fitness. 

Without  in  any  way  disparaging  the  noble  life 
and  loving  sacrifice  of  Jesus,  it  is  possibly  not  too 
early  in  the  day  of  Divine  Knowledge  for  some  one 
to  undertake  the  delicate  and  unwelcome  task  of 
timidly  suggesting  to  men  and  women  that  they 
carefully  examine  the  time-honoured  teaching  that 
they  can  hide  their  devilment  behind  the  Cross  and 
rid  themselves  of  the  stains  of  sin  by  calling  for  an 
application  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  Deep  down 
in  their  innermost  consciousness  they  already  have 
some  doubts  about  it,  but  the  doctrine  is  such  a 
convenient  solace  that  they  are  inclined  to  scoff 
their  better  judgment  in  order  to  retain  it.  Since 
the  days  of  Calvin  and  Luther,  at  least,  it  has  been 
recognized  that  "  hell-scared  Christians  "  are  a  very 
poor  sort.  Those  who  are  driven  to  Keligion 
merely  because  they  are  frightened  at  the  gather- 
ing doom  which  their  sin  has  invoked,  and  in  the 


200  The  Science  of  Religion 

hope  of  finding  an  easy  way  to  escape  that  doom, 
are  very  poor  recruits,  and  the  fact  that  they  nearly 
always  desert  strongly  indicates  that  they  fail  to 
find  what  they  seek. 

Considered  from  a  scientific  standpoint,  the  true 
remedy  for  those  who  are  afflicted  with  sin  would 
seem  to  be  to  send  them  out  into  the  sunshine  of 
Divine  Love  and  the  pure  air  of  morality,  there  to 
learn,  and  do,  and  become,  until  they  attain  to  the 
healthy  stature  and  fineness  of  being  assigned  to 
them  in  the  great  scheme  of  things. 

So  long  as  men  and  women  continue  to  believe 
that  they  may  run  a  long  course  of  immoral  con- 
duct, with  the  privilege  of  mending  their  ways  at 
any  moment  and  getting  an  "  immunity  bath " 
against  the  consequences  of  all  that  has  gone  be- 
fore ;  just  that  long  will  sensuality,  and  lust,  and 
greed,  and  dishonesty,  and  hate,  and  neglect  of  the 
rights  and  happiness  of  others,  run  riot  through  the 
world — just  so  long  will  private  vice  and  public 
iniquity  be  the  shame  of  the  people.  But  let  them 
once  come  to  fully  and  conscientiously  believe  that 
they  are  bound  to  pay  the  penalties  of  their  evil 
conduct,  sooner  or  later,  some  time,  somewhere, 
and  that  they  can  never  be  cured  of  the  injuries 
caused  by  sin  until  they  have  literally  worked  out 
the  penalty  by  right  living,  right  thinking,  and 
service  to  others  ;  and  a  wave  of  reform  will  sweep 
the  earth,  the  like  of  which  has  never  been  seen 
before.  Such  a  revolution  would  put  Eeligion  out 
of  the  business  of  dispensing  nostrums  and  cure- 


Sin  and  Redemption  201 

alls ;  but  if  it  should  prove  worthy  of  the  oppor- 
tunity thus  presented,  it  would  come  into  immediate 
recognition  as  the  great  consulting  specialist  in 
soul  sickness  and  sin-injury.  It  would  prepare  and 
promulgate  plans  for  moral  sanitation,  direct  the 
localizing  of  vice-infections,  and  point  out  natural 
and  efficient  methods  of  healing  sin-sores.  More- 
over, men  and  women  would  hear  it  gladly,  and 
would  vie  with  each  other  in  complying  with  its 
directions  ;  whereas,  under  the  present  general  con- 
ception of  the  doctrine  of  Atonement,  they  feel 
that,  since  the  "  immunity  bath  "  is  ever  easy  of 
access  and  certain  in  results,  there  is  no  hurry,  and 
so  plod  along  in  the  evil  tenor  of  their  ways. 

THE  LAW  AND  THE  KEASON 

There  is  an  all-sufficient  reason  why  individual 
"  regeneration  "  and  "  salvation  from  sin  "  must  be 
wrought  out  by  the  individual  himself,  and  that 
reason  is  nothing  other  than  man's  rightfully 
boasted  Free  Moral  Agency.  The  individual  mind 
is  the  initial  point  of  infection  by  sin.  The  mind 
infected  by  dishonesty  of  purpose,  greed,  lust, 
anger,  fear,  or  hate,  is  not  "in  tune  with  the 
Infinite."  It  is  in  a  discordant  state,  and  its  dis- 
cord spreads  out  to  every  tissue,  fibre  and  atom  of 
the  material  instrument  occupied  by  it.  This  dis- 
cord destroys  the  harmony  which  makes  for  well- 
being  and  progress,  causing  the  evolutionary  proc- 
ess to  double  back  upon  itself  and  become  a 
devolutionary  process.     We  all  know  how  dread 


202  The  Science  of  Religion 

and  worry  and  anger  interfere  with  the  functions 
of  appetite,  digestion  and  nutrition,  and  how  they 
sometimes  produce  fatal  diseases  of  the  heart  and 
kidneys  and  other  vital  organs.  Selfishness,  and 
dishonesty  of  purpose,  and  lust,  and  greed,  and 
hate,  and  envy,  and  malice,  all  make  their  initial 
attacks  upon  the  mind  and  find  their  first  lodg- 
ment there  ;  and  then  they  transmit  their  discordant 
vibratory  influence  to  the  material  instrument  occu- 
pied and  controlled  by  the  mind,  registering  those 
discords  in  lasting  injurious  effects.  Some  of  the  dis- 
cordant mental  states  which  seem  slowest  in  regis- 
tering their  effects  produce  injuries,  disintegrations 
and  coarsening  which  are  most  difficult  to  remedy. 

And  so  it  is  that  sin,  in  its  essential  nature  and 
last  analysis,  is  a  mental  condition ;  and  the  overt 
acts  which  are  usually  recognized  as  "  sins  "  are 
but  the  evidence  and  manifestation  of  its  exist- 
ence. Jesus  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  this 
great  scientific  truth,  and  proclaimed  it  in  no  un- 
certain terms.  Said  He  :  "  Whosoever  hateth  his 
brother  is  a  murderer  "  ;  and  "  Whosoever  looketh 
upon  a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed 
adultery  already  in  his  heart." 

But  the  commission  of  the  overt  acts  usually 
called  "  sins  "  also  produce  mental  states  which  are 
harmful  in  their  effects.  They  either  engender  a 
mental  state  known  as  "  a  sense  of  guilt,"  or,  what 
is  still  worse,  if  long  persisted  in  they  produce  a 
callous  indifference  which  drags  the  individual  far 
down     the    devolutionary    declivity.      Therefore, 


Sin  and  Redemption  203 

while  hate  is  murder,  and  lust  is  adultery,  the 
commission  of  the  overt  acts  which  are  the  efflores- 
cences of  this  "  original  sin  "  creates  other  mental 
states  which  add  to  the  aggregate  burden.  Thus 
the  sinner  who  manifests  his  sin  by  action  creates 
within  himself  that  condition  which  the  doctors  call 
"  a  vicious  circle."  By  every  wrong  act  he  augments 
his  stock  of  sin,  and  each  augmentation  of  his  stock 
of  sin  inspires  fresh  outbreaks  of  wrong  acting  ;  so 
that  he  literally  "  goes  from  bad  to  worse." 

Since  sin  is  essentially  a  mental  condition,  pro- 
ducing ill  effects  in  all  parts  and  departments  of 
the  individual,  it  is  obvious  that  the  only  channel 
through  which  those  ill  effects  can  be  reached  and 
remedied  is  the  mind  itself.  If  a  man's  hand  is 
being  crushed  by  a  heavy  weight,  liniments  and 
lotions  will  avail  nothing  unless  the  weight  be  first 
removed.  And  whenever  a  man's  mind  is  reached 
and  controlled,  he  loses  his  free  moral  agency  and 
drops  down  the  evolutionary  scale  to  a  point  far 
below  the  estate  of  humanity.  Wisdom  and  ig- 
norance and  good  and  evil  may  be  placed  before 
him  for  his  choice,  and  the  advantages  of  a  certain 
choice  pointed  out  to  him  ;  and  he  may  choose, 
however  unwisely,  and  still  be  a  man  possessed  of 
free  moral  agency  ;  but  whenever  his  will  is  over- 
come and  a  choice,  however  wise,  is  thrust  upon 
him,  his  free  moral  agency  is  gone.  And  it  is  the 
inflexible  law  of  the  great  scheme  of  things  that 
free  moral  agency  shall  be  one  of  the  badges  dis- 
tinguishing man  from  the  rounds  of  life  below  him. 


204  The  Science  of  Religion 

Take  away  that  badge,  and  you  do  him  a  greater 
injury  than  his  sin  can  ever  do  him ;  for  you 
thereby  cut  him  off  from  among  men  and  plunge 
him  back  to  the  level  of  the  unmoral,  irresponsible 
and  impermanent  brute.  This  is  the  monster  crime 
of  Hypnotism  and  Spiritualism,  and  sin  can  be  "  for- 
given," in  the  commonly  accepted  sense  of  the 
term,  in  no  other  way. 

There  are  probably  spiritual  men  and  women 
wise  enough  in  their  understanding  of  the  subtle 
forces  of  nature  that  they  could  take  control  of  the 
individual  mind  and  force  upon  it  an  attitude 
which,  all  things  else  being  equal,  would  result 
in  repairing  the  ravages  of  sin.  But  all  things 
else  are  not  equal,  and  the  remedy  would  be  worse 
than  the  disease.  The  operation  might  be  success- 
ful, but  the  patient  would  die — mentally  and  mor- 
ally. The  effort  would  be  to  improve  his  mo- 
rality ;  the  result  would  be  to  destroy  it.  The 
penalties  of  sin  can  be  worked  out  only  by  the 
individual  mind,  or  soul,  and  moral  regeneration 
must  begin  with  mental  regeneration. 

And  yet,  Jesus  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost.  His  blood  was  shed  as  a  ransom 
for  many.  He  was  born,  and  lived  and  died,  in 
order  that  men  and  women  might  obtain  forgive- 
ness of  their  sins,  and  thus  escape  the  terrible  pen- 
alties of  Retributive  Justice.  He  came  to  teach 
men  how  to  repair  the  havoc  wrought  by  sin  within 
themselves,  and  how  to  live  and  act  and  think  so  as 
to  prevent  this  havoc.     Men  had  supposed  God  to 


Sin  and  Redemption  205 

be  a  jealous  and  vengeful  creature.  Jesus  came  to 
teach  them  that  God  is  all-creative  Love,  and  that 
the  penalties  of  sin  are  merely  inherent  individual 
results  of  violation  of  its  principles,  rendering  men 
and  women  unable  to  enter  and  unfit  to  occupy  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  And  in  order  to  exemplify  the 
all-serving,  all-sacrificing  character  of  the  Love 
whose  special  envoy  He  was,  and  in  order  that  the 
story  of  His  work  and  teaching  might  be  perpetu- 
ated among  men,  it  was  necessary  for  Him  to  for- 
feit His  life.  He  did  not  come  in  order  that  a  man 
might  have  license  to  steal  his  neighbour's  horse,  or 
elope  with  his  neighbour's  wife,  with  assurance  that 
his  sin  would  be  washed  away  by  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb  at  any  moment  he  might  choose  to  have  that 
blood  applied.  He  came,  rather,  to  inveigh  against 
sin,  and  to  teach  men  how  to  go  about  repairing  the 
damage  done  by  it  to  themselves  and  to  others.  His 
mission  was  not  to  destroy  natural  law,  but  to  fulfill 
it ;  not  to  place  Himself  as  a  shield  between  men  and 
the  consequences  of  their  sin,  but  to  teach  them  the 
disastrous  folly  of  sin,  and  to  give  them  a  moral 
formula  for  repairing  the  damages  wrought  by  it. 

THE  PRINCIPLE  ILLUSTRATED 

Suppose  a  man  should  negligently  or  wilfully 
plunge  his  foot  and  lower  leg  into  boiling  water, 
thereby  violating  one  of  the  natural  laws  governing 
his  physical  body  and  invoking  a  severe  burn  as  a 
penalty.  And  suppose  he  should  call  in  the  family 
physician,  and  a  consulting  physician  or  two  be- 


2o6  The  Science  of  Reli 


gion 


sides.  Those  learned  physicians,  understanding  but 
little  about  the  real  nature  of  a  burn,  would  proba- 
bly apply  a  dressing  of  linseed  oil  and  lime-water ; 
but  the  peculiar  torturing  pain  incident  to  the  burn 
would  continue,  and  the  adjacent  tissues  would 
keep  on  breaking  down  and  generating  toxins  to 
endanger  the  patient's  life  by  attacks  upon  his  kid- 
neys and  intestines.  The  emollient  dressing  would 
do  some  good,  though  it  would  not  take  away  the 
peculiarities  of  the  burn.  But  suppose  there  should 
come  upon  the  scene  a  scientist  possessed  of  the 
knowledge  that  heat  is  merely  one  form  of  ethereal 
radiation,  and  that  if  its  greater  amplitudes  be 
played  upon  animal  or  human  flesh  it  disturbs  the 
harmonic  vibratory  relations  between  the  atoms 
and  molecules  of  which  the  cells  of  flesh  are  built 
up,  thus  setting  up  an  induced  radio-active  discord 
which  continues  after  the  heat  has  subsided,  just  as 
the  induced  radio-active  effects  of  the  X-rays  re- 
main in  the  bean-vine  long  after  the  rays  them- 
selves have  subsided.  And  suppose  the  scientist  to 
be  possessed  of  the  further  knowledge  that  one  part 
of  pure  lard  and  one  part  of  gum  turpentine  heated 
together  until  they  are  fuming  hot,  and  then  sup- 
plemented by  the  addition  of  one  part  of  spirits  of 
turpentine,  blend  into  a  highly  complex  compound 
which  is  itself  radio-active  to  just  the  degree  neces- 
sary to  break  down  and  neutralize  the  radio-activity 
induced  in  the  flesh  by  the  heat.  And  suppose  he 
should  impart  all  this  knowledge  to  the  suffer- 
ing man.    If  the  materials  should  happen  to  be  at 


Sin  and  Redemption  207 

hand,  and  if  the  man  should  be  sufficiently  impressed 
to  induce  him  to  try  the  experiment  of  preparing 
this  compound,  and  applying  it  when  cool  in  the 
form  of  a  thoroughly  saturated  cloth  or  gauze, 
closely  binding  it  up  with  another  cloth  so  as  to 
exclude  the  air,  all  the  peculiar  torture  of  the  burn 
would  disappear  within  a  few  minutes.  And  by  a 
renewal  of  the  dressing  once  a  day  for  two  or  three 
successive  days,  the  burn  would  be  made  to  assume 
the  form  of  an  ordinary  injury  of  the  same  extent. 
The  physicians  would  probably  tell  him  that  the 
scientist's  talk  about  vibrations,  and  atomic  har- 
mony and  discord,  and  induced  radio-activity,  was 
all  just  so  much  "  pure  mush  " ;  that  the  very  idea 
of  treating  a  burn  with  hog-fat  and  pine-juice  is 
ridiculous :  and  that,  anyway,  the  application  of  so 
much  turpentine  to  the  injured  surface  would  result 
in  the  absorption  of  that  drug  and  the  consequent 
disintegration  of  his  blood. 

Now,  the  man  with  the  burned  leg  may  be 
likened  unto  mankind  suffering  from  the  effects  of 
sin ;  the  doctors,  ignorant  of  the  real  cause  of  the 
trouble,  and  applying  linseed  oil  and  lime-water, 
may  be  likened  unto  the  priests  and  elders  who 
pottered  around  with  sacrifices,  and  burnt  offer- 
ings, and  purifications;  and  Jesus,  knowing  the 
real  cause  of  the  trouble  and  the  remedy  for  it, 
may  be  likened  unto  the  scientist.  And  thus  it  is 
that  "  he  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  He 
knew  that  sin  coarsens  and  stupefies  and  disrupts 
the  very  fibre  of  the  spiritual  body,  as  well  as  of 


208  The  Science  of  Religion 

its  physical  counterpart,  thereby  dooming  it  to  un- 
happy environments.  He  knew  that  the  remedy 
lies  in  living  a  life  of  purity  and  righteousness,  in 
words  and  thoughts  and  deeds  ;  and  so  he  pro- 
mulgated a  code  of  ethics  ranging  from  the 
simplest  rules  of  conduct  to  standards  so  sublimely 
high  that  men  cannot  even  yet  understand  their 
full  meaning  and  significance.  His  Gospel  does 
not  force  men  and  women  to  remain  perpetual 
mendicants  at  the  door  of  Grace  and  Mercy,  but 
instructs  them  in  methods  of  self-help  which  will 
make  them  strong,  and  courageous,  and  worthy. 
Hear  His  words  of  wonderful  wisdom  thundering 
down  the  corridors  of  Time :  "  Not  every  one  that 
saith  unto  me,  '  Lord,  Lord,'  shall  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  ;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of 
my  father  which  is  in  heaven.  Many  will  say 
unto  me  in  that  day,  'Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not 
prophesied  in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy  name  have 
cast  out  devils  ?  and  in  thy  name  done  many  won- 
derful works  ? '  And  then  will  I  profess  unto 
them, '  I  never  knew  you ;  depart  from  me,  ye  that 
work  iniquity.' " 

Calling  upon  God  and  acknowledging  Jesus  as 
Lord  will  not  get  sinful  men  and  women  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven;  they  must  do  the  things 
which  the  great  God  of  all  being  requires  of  them, 
and  thereby  become  the  things  which  alone  can 
enter  that  kingdom.  They  that  work  iniquity 
have  all  their  ritualism  and  professions  and  prayers 
for  naught. 


Sin  and  Redemption  209 

How  beautifully  simple !  How  simply  beauti- 
ful! Just  a  matter  of  doing  and  becoming,  ac- 
cording to  the  moral  formula  for  which  Jesus  shed 
His  blood.  Just  a  matter  of  trying  to  live  up  to 
our  highest  ideals  every  day.  Just  a  matter  of 
loving,  and  laughing,  and  singing,  and  serving,  as 
we  wend  heavenward  over  the  road  along  which 
play  the  splendid  lights  of  the  Transfiguration  and 
the  sombre  shadows  of  the  Cross. 

The  author  is  not  afflicted  with  the  delusion  that 
this  chapter  will  meet  with  general  popular  ap- 
proval. Quite  to  the  contrary,  it  is  well  known  in 
advance  that  it  will  meet  with  much  bitter  dis- 
approval and  hostile  and  aggressive  criticism.  By 
many  it  will  be  regarded  as  a  sacrilege,  by  many 
others  as  a  pernicious  intermeddling  with  things 
that  are  sacred,  and  by  not  a  few  as  the  very  sin 
against  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  great  majority  of  the 
men  and  women  of  Religion  have  too  long  relied 
upon  the  merit  and  sacrifices  of  others  to  take 
away  the  consequences  of  their  sin  to  be  thus 
easily  shaken  from  such  reliance. 

But  we  have  seen  that  the  whole  scheme  of 
evolutionary  growth  and  development  depends 
upon  individual  harmony  with  the  all-pervading 
Force.  We  have  observed  that  Man  has  been 
made  a  free  moral  agent,  with  power  either  to 
comply  with  the  great  law  or  to  violate  it,  and  that 
his  compliance  or  violation  registers  effects  upon 
his  inherent  individual  being.  We  have  also  seen 
that  spiritual  light  and  knowledge  can  come  only 


210  The  Science  of  Religion 

through  individual  compliance  with  the  immutable 
natural  laws  which  have  to  do  with  morality,  and 
that  through  an  understanding  of  and  compliance 
with  those  laws  a  man  or  woman  may  so  evolve 
and  develop  as  to  come  into  independent  and 
rational  communication  with  the  realm  of  spiritual 
matter,  life  and  intelligence,  thereby  attaining  to 
prophetic  wisdom  and  verifying  the  continuance  of 
individual  life  after  death.  We  also  know  as  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge  that  at  the  present 
time  men  and  women  are  not  attempting  to  ration- 
ally and  purposefully  comply  with  the  natural  laws 
of  morality,  and  that  it  is  not  generally  understood 
that  such  rational  and  purposeful  compliance  leads 
to  knowledge  of  spiritual  things. 

These  are  the  reasons  which  prompt  the  writing 
of  this  chapter,  and  not  a  vain  desire  of  the  author 
to  adversely  criticize  any  religious  belief.  The  sug- 
gestions here  made  are  put  forward  in  all  humility, 
and  with  all  respect  and  reverence  for  the  beliefs, 
sentiments  and  feelings  of  others.  The  matter  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  every  man  and  woman. 
The  most  important  question  in  the  world  is  the 
troubled  query  in  the  book  of  Job  :  "  If  a  man  die, 
shall  he  live  again  ?  "  And  the  second  in  impor- 
tance is  the  one  propounded  to  Jesus  by  the  rich 
young  man :  "  What  shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal 
life  ?  "  This  chapter  is  intended  as  some  kind  of 
an  humble  answer  to  this  second  question,  couched 
in  modern  language  and  phrased  in  the  terminology 
of  Science  and  Keason. 


XVIII 
THE  DIVINE  PUKPOSE 

ALL  preceding  chapters  have  dealt  with  the 
Divine  Plan  of  things. 
Some  things  have  been  said  which  seem 
to  be  very  much  in  the  nature  of  wild  speculation  ; 
but  this  seeming  may  be  largely  due  to  the  fact 
that  in  saying  those  things  Eeligion  has  been  ex- 
amined from  the  standpoint  of  Science,  the  en- 
deavour being  to  bring  some  of  the  "  unknown  " 
things  into  the  realm  of  the  known,  and  to  show 
that  many  of  the  "  unknowable "  things  ought 
more  properly  to  be  catalogued  merely  as  "  un- 
known.'' So  long  have  men  and  women  supposed 
that  Religion  is  made  up  of  doctrines  and  dogmas 
concerning  very  mysterious  things  which  God  has 
securely  concealed  from  human  understanding,  that 
any  effort  to  gather  some  of  the  facts  and  correlate 
them  into  a  rational  system  will  quite  naturally 
appeal  to  them,  at  first  thought,  as  being  mere 
speculations,  notwithstanding  the  well-known  facts 
upon  which  the  system  may  be  based,  and  its  pow- 
erful appeal  to  Reason,  Intuition  and  Conscience. 

FUNDAMENTAL   HYPOTHESES 

Let  it  be  again  and  finally  understood  that  this 
book  rests  upon  only  two  fundamental  hypotheses, 

211 


2 1 2  The  Science  of  Religion 

viz.  :  an  all-pervading  Force  moving  in  the  form 
of  complex  waves  through  the  omnipresent  ether, 
which,  beginning  with  a  state  of  gaseous  incan- 
descence, has  created  and  evolved,  and  still  creates 
and  evolves,  everything  in  the  world  ;  and  a  realm 
of  matter,  called  spiritual  matter,  which  is  finer  in 
particle  than  the  physical,  which  in  some  of  its 
forms  iuterblends  with  every  physical  entity  and 
forms  a  counterpart  of  it.  Everything  which  has 
been  said  rests  squarely  upon  one  or  the  other  of 
these  two  postulates,  and  the  entire  book  is  made 
up  of  a  consideration  of  them  in  the  light  of  scien- 
tific discoveries  and  world-old  religious  beliefs. 
These  intuitional  and  rather  irrational  beliefs,  and 
these  sporadic  and  largely  unsystematized  scientific 
discoveries,  come  far  short  of  being  all  that  might 
be  desired  in  the  way  of  light ;  but  none  other  is 
available,  and  against  the  time  when  "  that  which 
is  perfect  shall  have  come "  we  must  be  content 
to  "  see  as  through  a  glass,  darkly."  This  book  is 
a  pioneer  in  the  field  it  attempts  to  occupy,  and, 
like  all  pioneers,  it  must  needs  be  more  or  less  crude. 
Many  writers  and  thinkers  have  dealt  severally 
with  the  subjects  that  have  here  been  treated,  and 
some  have  dealt  with  a  number  of  them  collect- 
ively ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  no  previous 
effort  to  coordinate  the  fundamental  aggregate  of 
scientific  discoveries  with  the  fundamental  aggre- 
gate of  religious  beliefs,  and  to  mould  them  into  a 
scheme  of  things  having  a  beginning,  working  ac- 
cording to  a  plan,  and  moving  towards  the  accom- 


The  Divine  Purpose  213 

plishment  of  a  purpose.  The  task  is  admittedly  a 
stupendous  one  for  an  humble  finite  mind,  and  the 
opportunities  for  minor  mistakes  of  reasoning  and 
errors  of  deduction  are  many ;  but  the  author  is 
convinced  that  the  two  fundamental  postulates  can 
never  fall,  and  if  this  be  true  then  minor  mistakes 
and  errors  are  of  no  particular  importance. 

REVIEWING  THE  FACTS 

From  time  to  time,  in  the  course  of  considering 
the  Worker  and  His  Plan,  we  have  had  fleeting 
glimpses  of  His  Purpose.  An  effort  will  be  made 
in  this  closing  chapter  to  make  that  Purpose  more 
fully  to  appear. 

Limiting  consideration,  in  point  of  space  to  this 
world  and  its  environs,  and  in  point  of  time  to  the 
ages  which  have  passed  since  the  world  first  flamed 
out  in  the  firmament  as  a  fiery  cloud-ball  of  gases, 
we  have  seen  how  a  mighty  Intelligent  Force, 
moving  upon  matter  from  without  in  the  form  of 
complex  ether- waves,  caused  its  atoms  to  unite  into 
the  solid  earth,  and  then  proceeded  to  build  up  and 
evolve  all  of  life  and  growth  with  which  we  are 
familiar  in  this  age.  We  have  also  seen  that  this 
growth  or  evolution  has  been  and  is  dual  in  opera- 
tion, being  the  result  of  cooperation  between  two 
interblending  realms  of  matter.  We  have  seen 
that  all  aggregation,  life,  growth  and  evolutionary 
development,  came  through  the  establishment  of 
harmonic  vibratory  rates  between  similar  individual 
entities  of  opposite  polarity,  such  harmony  impel- 


214  The  Science  of  Religion 

ling  them  to  unite  into  refining  and  constructive 
matings.  We  have  followed  this  great  harmonic 
principle  from  the  mineral  kingdom  to  the  human 
kingdom,  noting  its  increasing  scope  and  power  as 
we  proceeded  from  stage  to  stage.  We  have  be- 
gun with  the  active  and  aggressive  tendencies  of 
the  positive  mineral  atom,  and  following  the  trail 
of  these  tendencies  through  the  vegetable  and  ani- 
mal kingdoms,  have  come  at  last  to  Man,  active, 
aggressive,  and  searching  for  Truth  by  the  light  of 
Reason.  We  have  begun  with  the  passive  and 
yielding  tendencies  of  the  negative  mineral  atom, 
and  following  the  trail  of  these  tendencies  through 
the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  have  come  at 
last  to  Woman,  passive,  yielding,  and  seeking  for 
Love  in  the  light  of  Intuition. 

When  we  thus  arrived,  in  the  course  of  consider- 
ation, at  the  estates  of  Manhood  and  Womanhood, 
we  found  them  also  responding  to  the  same  mighty 
Force  which  had  impelled  all  the  entities  below 
them.  They,  also,  are  generally  attracted  to  each 
other  by  sheer  force  of  the  attraction  of  positive 
for  negative  and  negative  for  positive.  But  this 
general  attraction  is  not  sufficient  to  produce  Love- 
matings.  It  must  be  supplemented  by  harmonic 
vibratory  rates  in  one  or  more  of  the  departments 
of  their  respective  beings,  just  as  harmonic  vibra- 
tory rates  were  necessary  to  bind  mineral  atoms 
together.  But  there  are  so  many  and  more  com- 
plex "  departments "  in  the  individual  beings  of 
men  and  women  that  harmony  in  all  of  those  de- 


The  Divine  Purpose  215 

partments  is  much  more  difficult  to  establish  than 
in  the  mineral  kingdom.  We  have  already  noted 
the  rise  of  the  law  of  Natural  Selection,  and  ob- 
served that  it  became  more  discriminative  at  each 
forward  step  in  the  production  of  higher  and  more 
complex  forms. 

In  order  to  produce  an  ideal  mating  between 
two  human  beings  there  must  be  harmony  in  the 
departments  of  the  physical  bodies,  in  the  depart- 
ments of  the  spiritual  bodies,  and  in  the  depart- 
ments of  the  minds,  or  souls.  If  these  various 
harmonic  requirements  are  to  be  met,  or  even 
closely  approached,  men  and  women  must  have  a 
larger  range  of  choice  in  selecting  their  mates  than 
is  required  in  the  kingdoms  below  them.  In  actual 
practice  attempts  at  mating  are  predicated,  all  too 
often,  upon  harmony  in  only  one  of  these  depart- 
ments, and  even  in  that  department  the  harmony 
is  not  always  perfect.  These  attempts  at  mating 
are  predicated  upon  harmony  in  various  depart- 
ments of  the  two  individuals,  ranging  from  the 
physical  body  to  the  mind;  but  ideal  matings, 
based  upon  harmonic  relations  in  all  departments 
of  the  individual  beings,  are  at  present  very  rare. 
Kealizing  this,  we  can  readily  account  for  all  the 
domestic  unhappiness  and  sorrow  that  men  and 
women  everywhere  either  silently  endure  or 
scandalously  repudiate. 

Having  discovered  that  the  Force  which  created 
the  solid  earth  out  of  chaos,  and  which  built  up 
and  evolved  everything  upon  the  earth,  is  the  same 


216  The  Science  of  Religion 

Force  which  produces  the  ecstatic  happiness  of 
perfect  human  love,  we  came  face  to  face  with  the 
great  fact  that  this  Force  is  nothing  other  than 
God.  We  then  discovered  that  the  net  result  of 
all  our  tedious  and  high-tension  mental  processes 
is  stated  very  simply  in  three  little  New  Testament 
words  of  one  syllable  each,  viz. :  "  God  is  Love." 
And  so  it  is  literally  true,  after  all,  that  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth," 
and  that  "  All  things  were  made  by  him,  and 
without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made."  It  also  seems  to  be  true  that  after  God 
had  created  Man  and  Woman,  He  "  rested  "  from 
His  creative  labours.  He  had  brought  forth  in- 
dividuals so  equipped  as  to  be  self-sustaining  and 
self-evolving.  Being  able  to  reason,  and  to  inde- 
pendently choose,  they  were  constituted  free  moral 
agents,  and  their  further  evolution  was  made  to 
depend  upon  whether  or  not  they  would  comply 
with  the  laws  and  forces  which  had  brought  them 
thus  far,  and  which  were  all-sufficient  to  carry 
them  still  further  forward.  He  placed  before  them 
Good  and  Evil,  and  Life  and  Death,  and  left  them 
free  to  choose  for  themselves.  He  gave  them  phys- 
ical bodies  for  use  during  their  studentship  on  the 
physical  plane,  and  He  gave  them  spiritual  bodies 
for  use  on  the  spiritual  planes.  By  the  operation 
of  immutable  law  their  physical  bodies  sooner  or 
later  wear  out  and  decay,  and  it  rests  entirely  with 
them  whether  they  will  so  live  as  to  fit  their 
spiritual  bodies  for  a  happy  immortality  in  delight- 


The  Divine  Purpose  217 

ful  realms,  or  whether  they  will  so  live  as  to  rele- 
gate those  bodies  to  the  regions  of  outer  darkness 
and  to  the  pains  of  a  "  second  death." 

Human  love  having  been  found  to  be  the  highest 
present  individual  manifestation  of  the  God-Force 
which  creates  and  evolves  all  things,  it  ought  also 
to  be  true,  if  our  major  hypothesis  of  the  all-per- 
vading Force  be  correct,  that  this  same  love  is  a 
powerful  factor  in  evolutionary  advance  and  refine- 
ment, registering  its  effects  upon  the  children  of 
true  love-marriages,  as  well  as  upon  the  parents 
themselves.  That  this  latter  is  incontrovertibly 
true,  a  great  abundance  of  evidence  is  ready  at 
hand.  In  those  countries  where  caste  distinctions 
limit  men  and  women  in  contracting  marriage,  and 
in  those  other  countries  where  marriages  are  ar- 
ranged by  third  parties,  the  human  race  has  fallen 
behind  in  the  evolutionary  march.  India  and  China 
furnish  striking  examples.  The  same  is  also  true 
of  the  people  of  those  countries  where  the  sensu- 
ality of  polygamy  has  choked  true  love.  Turkey 
furnishes  an  example  of  this  kind.  Among  those 
families  whose  members  contract  marriage  as  a 
matter  of  policy,  the  children  are  prone  to  be  de- 
ficient. The  old  aristocratic  families  perish  from 
the  earth,  and  royalty  degenerates. 

To  the  limit  that  Eugenics  undertakes  to  prevent 
reproduction  by  the  hopelessly  unfit,  its  work  is 
constructive  and  conservative  ;  but  all  of  its  efforts 
which  tend  to  induce  men  and  women  to  select 
mates  merely  upon  the  ground  of  their  mental  and 


218  The  Science  of  Religion 

physical  fitness  are  destructive  and  profligate.  It 
were  better  that  a  child  be  born  of  defective  par- 
ents who  are  really  and  truly  in  love  with  each 
other  than  that  it  be  born  of  parents  who  are  men- 
tally and  physically  perfect,  but  who  have  merely 
patched  up  a  cultured  and  refined  truce  under  which 
they  live  together  as  husband  and  wife.  Love  has 
created  and  evolved  everything  in  the  world,  from 
mineral  molecule  to  man,  and  in  all  the  kingdoms 
below  the  human  it  operates  almost  automatically. 
Man,  being  a  free  moral  agent,  endowed  with  the 
faculties  of  reason  and  choice,  can  cast  love  out  of 
his  personal  equations  ;  but  whenever  he  does  so  he 
gets  results  which  are  bound  to  be  disappointing. 
He  may  violate  the  laws  of  his  being,  but  he  thereby 
invokes  penalties  which  are  sometimes  visited  upon 
his  children  even  "  unto  the  third  and  fourth  gen- 
eration." 

Since  we  are  here  considering  Keligion  in  its 
scientific  aspects,  and  since  marriage  is  one  of  its 
oldest  and  most  sacred  rites,  it  will  not  be  out  of 
place  to  give  a  little  more  detailed  consideration  to 
the  scientific  aspect  of  marriage  itself.  The  basic 
principle  has  already  been  propounded  ;  in  fact  that 
basic  principle  was  propounded  when  the  atoms  of 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  united  into  molecules  of 
water;  but  we  will  now  proceed  to  a  brief  con- 
sideration of  the  workings  of  that  principle. 

Some  of  the  very  ancient  and  very  devout  Chris- 
tian artists  painted  a  halo,  or  aura,  as  emanating 
from  the  body  of  their  patron  saint ;  and  this  cus- 


The  Divine  Purpose  219 

torn  is  more  or  less  in  vogue  at  the  present  time, 
although  it  has  long  been  considered  as  merely  a 
token  of  veneration  and  respect.  Now,  however, 
in  the  light  of  modern  scientific  discoveries,  there 
has  arisen  a  question  as  to  whether  the  halo  or  aura 
may  not  be  true  to  life.  We  have  often  met  peo- 
ple whose  very  presence  was  distastefully  disturb- 
ing, and  for  no  apparent  reason.  The  presence 
of  other  persons  is  pleasant,  running  in  degree 
from  "  pleasing  personality  "  to  "  love  at  first  sight." 
There  must  be  a  scientific  reason  for  these  things. 

At  the  time  of  this  writing  it  has  recently  been 
announced  through  the  public  prints  that  a  French 
scientist  has  wrought  out  a  chemically  treated 
"  screen  "  which  he  interposes  in  a  camera  between 
the  photographic  plate  and  the  subject,  and  by 
means  of  which  he  has  been  able  to  photograph  the 
"  magnetic  radiations  "  from  the  human  body.  The 
report  goes  on  to  say  that  these  radiations  are  very 
similar  in  general  appearance  to  the  halo  in  ancient 
paintings  and  bas-reliefs,  and  that  they  vary  greatly 
in  extent  and  appearance  in  photographs  of  different 
people.  This  report  may  turn  out  to  be  merely 
"  newspaper  talk,"  but  it  is  interesting,  to  say  the 
least  of  it.  According  to  one  of  the  minor  deduc- 
tions of  a  previous  chapter  there  must  be  an  induced 
magnetic  "  field  "  in  the  physical  body  which  acts 
as  a  tie  between  it  and  the  interblending  spiritual 
body;  and  if  there  be  such  a  magnetic  field  it 
would  necessarily  radiate  beyond  the  surface  of 
the  magnetized  body,  just  as  do  all  other  magnetic 


220  The  Science  of  Religion 

fields.  Such  radiation  would  also  necessarily  vary- 
in  form  and  extent  in  different  individuals,  accord- 
ing to  different  states  of  vitality,  mental  attitudes, 
etc.  Therefore,  if  the  learned  Frenchman  has  not 
actually  photographed  "  haloes  "  it  is  just  possible 
that  he  or  some  one  else  may  yet  do  so.  If  we  but 
pause  here  to  realize  that  such  terms  as  "  animal 
magnetism,"  "personal  magnetism,"  and  "mag- 
netic personality,"  are  very  commouly  and  gener- 
ally used  by  people  in  all  walks  of  life,  this  effort 
to  get  at  the  very  facts  may  not  seem  so  strained 
or  far-fetched. 

It  may  now  be  realized  that  each  individual 
human  body  has  its  own  peculiar  magnetic  "  body- 
tone  "  ;  which,  being  interpreted  in  the  terminology 
of  Music,  means  the  master-key  with  which  all  the 
minor  magnetic  vibrations  of  the  body  are  pitched 
in  harmony.  These  body-tones  would  naturally 
vary  in  different  individuals,  the  range  of  varia- 
tion being  almost  as  wide  as  is  the  variation 
in  personal  appearance.  Man  and  Woman  are  at- 
tracted to  each  other  in  a  general  sort  of  way  by 
reason  of  tendencies  to  opposite  polarity.  When 
it  is  said  that  men  and  women  tend  to  opposite  po- 
larity, it  is  not  meant  that  they  literally  and  phys- 
ically attract  each  other  as  the  positive  pole  of  a 
magnet  would  attract  the  negative  pole  of  another 
magnet.  When  we  come  to  consider  the  estates  of 
Man  and  Woman,  we  have  progressed  very  far 
away  from  the  heavy  and  sluggish  forces  which 
impel  the  phenomena  of  the  mineral  kingdom.     It 


The  Divine  Purpose  221 

is  only  intended  to  say  that  there  is  something  in 
the  active,  aggressive  nature  of  Man  which  fills  the 
same  place  in  the  human  realm  as  positive  polarity 
fills  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  and  that  there  is 
something  in  the  passive,  yielding  nature  of  Woman 
which  fills  the  same  place  in  the  human  realm  as 
negative  polarity  fills  in  the  mineral  kingdom.  We 
do  not  know  just  what  this  something  is,  but  it  was 
traced,  in  a  preceding  chapter,  from  the  mineral 
kingdom  to  the  human  kingdom,  and  some  of  its 
principal  manifestations  in  each  kingdom  were 
there  discussed.  It  is  called  "  polarity  "  because  it 
is  a  link  in  the  chain  of  which  mineral  polarity  is  a 
part,  and  because  no  better  name  has  been  found 
for  it. 

If  the  general  attraction  existing  between  an  in- 
dividual man  and  an  individual  woman  chances  to 
be  supplemented  by  harmony  between  their  respect- 
ive magnetic  "  body-tones,"  the  attraction  is  vastly 
increased.  A  great  many  legal  marriages  are  con- 
tracted upon  the  basis  of  this  one  harmony  alone, 
all  the  other  departments  of  the  two  individuals 
being  more  or  less  in  discord.  Such  marriages 
bring  some  measure  of  happiness  for  a  time,  but 
the  several  discords  will  eventually  result  in  mental 
states  and  attitudes  which  will  break  down  the  one 
harmony,  and  then  the  matter  resolves  itself  into  a 
choice  between  the  divorce  court  and  "  toughing  it 
out  for  the  sake  of  the  children." 

In  the  present  state  of  human  development  men 
and  women  are  compelled  to  more  or  less  "  leap  in 


222  The  Science  of  Religion 

the  dark"  in  settling  these  personal  problems. 
Love  is  their  only  guide,  and  true  love  will  never 
lead  them  astray.  The  danger  lies  in  mistaking 
partial  harmony  for  complete  harmony,  and  in  mis- 
taking near-harmony  for  exact  harmony.  Mar- 
riages should  not  be  contracted  in  haste,  and  all 
attractions  should  be  carefully  analyzed  in  the  light 
of  Eeason  and  Intuition.  These  are  the  only  pre- 
cautions that  can  be  taken  at  the  present  time. 

Young  people  should  carefully  examine  and  ra- 
tionally analyze  the  ecstatic  feeling  which  fires  them 
when  they  meet  those  of  the  opposite  sex  who  are 
in  some  way  attuned  to  them.  Harmony  even  be- 
tween their  physical  natures  may  produce  what  to 
them  appears  to  be  true  love,  but  marriage  based 
upon  such  harmony  alone  will  result  in  disaster. 

If  a  man  and  a  woman  are  unhappily  married, 
and  if  the  coming  of  children  has  cast  upon  them 
the  moral  obligation  to  remain  together  for  the 
sake  of  these  innocent  third  parties,  they  may  find 
much  greater  happiness  than  they  imagine  to  be 
available  by  coming  to  mutual  understanding  upon 
as  many  points  and  grounds  as  possible ;  because 
each  bond  of  sympathy  and  understanding  tends  to 
create  other  bonds  of  the  same  kind. 

THE  PURPOSE  REVEALED 

"When  we  had  reached  the  end  of  our  reasoning 
as  to  the  Divine  Plan,  we  came  at  last  to  Man  and 
Woman,  and  we  there  paused  to  contemplate  the 
ideal  which  is  so  often  and  so  nearly  approached. 


The  Divine  Purpose  223 

And  again,  at  the  end  of  our  reasoning  as  to  the 
Divine  Purpose,  we  come  at  last  to  Man  and 
Woman.  All  too  often  the  individuals  of  this 
present  age  and  realm  are  marred  by  ignorance  and 
sin  and  disease,  but  nothing  short  of  the  ideal  can 
satisfy  the  Divine  Purpose.  Some  time,  some- 
where, somehow,  this  ideal  must  be  wrought  out 
in  each  individual  who  shall  persist  until  that  time, 
place  and  end.  And  so  it  is  that  we  again  con- 
template the  ideal,  and  look  to  these  two  wonder- 
ful beings  as  they  stand  before  us  in  all  the  splendid 
grandeur  of  their  strength  and  beauty ;  inherently 
divine  in  their  essential  natures;  collaborators  of 
the  great  God  of  all  being;  endowed  with  the 
faculties,  capacities  and  powrers  requisite  to  work- 
ing out  and  enjoying  a  mutual  and  most  ecstatic 
happiness ;  possessed  of  the  secret  of  immortality ; 
and  holding  passports  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
So  unlike  are  they,  this  aggressive  Searcher  for 
Truth  and  this  yielding  Seeker  of  Love !  and  yet 
with  their  mutual  destinies  and  happiness  so  closely 
bound  up  together!  Their  physical  bodies  may 
grow  old  and  decay,  but  their  souls  shall  remain 
forever  young,  and  in  the  spiritual  realm  "they 
shall  renew  their  strength  like  eagles."  In  the 
w^orld  towards  which  they  move  they  will  be  free 
from  many  of  the  things  which  have  marred  and 
blighted  them  here,  and  will  learn  to  invoke  the 
operation  of  wonderful  laws  and  forces  which  will 
enable  them  to  become  masters  of  their  own  des- 
tinies.    As  we  contemplate  them  thus,  can  we  won- 


224  The  Science  of  Religion 

der  that  the  great  and  all-creative  God,  imbued 
with  all  wisdom  and  endowed  with  all  power,  was 
content  to  rest  from  all  His  labours  when  He  had 
evolved  them  ?  It  is  a  far  backward  cry  from 
them  to  the  fiery  cloud-ball,  with  many  tedious 
millions  of  years  intervening  ;  but  does  not  the  re- 
sult glorify  the  Plan  and  justify  the  means  ?  and 
would  we  change  the  Purpose  if  we  could  ? 

A  beautiful  land  on  high,  where  "  there  shall  be 
no  more  death,  neither  sorrow,  nor  crying,  neither 
shall  there  be  any  more  pain,"  inhabited  by  such 
as  these  "  made  perfect  in  love  "  !  A  land  of  glori- 
ous opportunity,  where  happy  dreams  come  true 
and  hopes  are  realized,  still  further  glorified  and 
gladdened  by  the  talents,  arts  and  goodness  of  the 
great  and  good  men  and  women  of  all  ages !  This 
seems  to  have  been  the  Purpose  with  which  the 
all-pervading,  all-creating  God-Force  moved  upon 
gaseous  incandescence,  and  for  the  accomplishment 
of  which  it  has  striven  throughout  the  intervening 
eons  of  time. 

How  do  the  petty  cares  and  worries  and  sorrows 
of  earth  fade  away  before  the  light  of  this  re- 
splendent vision  !  How  paltry  is  all  of  wealth, 
and  pomp,  and  heraldry,  and  power,  when  com- 
pared with  the  infinite  richness  of  a  treasure  such 
as  this ! 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


